


pieces that dont quite fit together

by baexil



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Actor Na Jaemin, Alternate Universe - Restaurant, Cute Lee Jeno, Getting Back Together, M/M, Non Idol AU, Polyamory, Post-Break Up, Singer Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-18 16:46:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 30,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21780622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baexil/pseuds/baexil
Summary: “We’ve all gone through our heartbreaks, I’m sure, but let me tell you, this man was a real asshole.” Donghyuck doesn’t seem to realize what has come out of his mouth until the audience swells with hysterical screaming. He looks to them with wide, confused eyes before Donghyuck clearly realizes what exactly he has said, face going white.“This woman! My ex-girlfriend, don’t misunderstand! We broke up recently, me and this girl.” He tries to save but the crowd is still in an uproar. There’s a long sigh.“I’m going to see this trending tomorrow, aren’t I?” He asks them, seemingly exhaustedly.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 22
Kudos: 371
Collections: ’00 FIC FEST: ROUND ONE





	pieces that dont quite fit together

There’s a new song on the radio that Jeno has been obsessed with. He doesn’t think anything of it when he adds it to the restaurant’s playlist, humming along with it. 

“So cute without you,” he sings along before he can catch himself. He glances up, fully expecting his friend and coworker to make fun of him relentlessly, but he is pleasantly surprised. 

“Did you hear?” Renjun titters excitedly to him, hands busy with cleaning some glasses but peeking up to give him a thin smile, “That idol, Donghyuck wrote this song about a boy.” 

Jeno’s eyes widen with surprise before he squints suspiciously. He is an openly gay man in Korea and he knows this game by now. The first catches of gossip about this or that idol are not to believed. Not with their rabid fangirl culture. 

“Bullshit,” he says. 

“No, really,” Renjun insists, putting down his now clean glasses on the bar in front of him so he can fish his phone out of his apron pocket, “He was talking about writing the song at his concert last night and he accidently fessed up. Watch.” 

He pulls up a video that is trending, a fan video shakeningly taken. 

“And this next song, I wrote when I was going through a hard time,” Donghyuck’s voice is tinny in the recording, not like how he sounds on the radio at all. An uproar of screams blocks out the next few seconds and Jeno grimaces at Renjun. 

“Patience,” his friend chides, turning the volume up on his phone. Jeno still leans in so he can hear it better over the noise of the restaurant. 

“We’ve all gone through our heartbreaks, I’m sure,” Donghyuck continues, having to pause again as the audience screams more at him. He laughs at something someone shouts at him but it’s unintelligible from the recording. 

“But let me tell you, this man was a real asshole.” He doesn’t seem to realize what has come out of his mouth until the audience swells with hysterical screaming. Jeno doesn’t roll his eyes at the reaction, the video is now shaking a lot more, Donghyuck clearly realizes what he has said, face going white. 

“This woman! My ex-girlfriend, don’t misunderstand! We broke up recently, me and this girl.” He tries to save but the crowd is still in an uproar. There’s a long sigh. 

“I’m going to see this trending tomorrow, aren’t I?” He asks them, seemingly exhaustedly. And somewhat concedingly. 

This video cuts off and Renjun looks up at him with a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. 

“See?” He says proudly, “Finally. I always knew he was queer.” 

“Doubtful,” Jeno says. Renjun pouts at his response and he continues, “Oh, c’mon, how many times have these cute musicians used fangirl culture to sell more songs?” 

“For a cutie, you are such a pessimist,” Renjun calls him out. 

“I’m a gay man living in Korea. Of course I’m a pessimist,” he deadpans. 

Renjun protests, “But all of his songs use gender neutral pronouns and he’s been in all those rumors with that one actor-” 

A customer coming through the front door interrupts their conversation, the door chiming enough to draw both of their attentions. 

“I still call bullshit,” Jeno says as a way to end their conversation before turning and plastering on his best customer smile, the one that scrunches his eyes cutely. 

He inwardly cheers when the girl blushes slightly. Works every time. 

\----

Chenle stops by the shop later that evening, after dinner and right before the drinking crowd starts to come in looking for something to wet their thirst. 

“Oh~ Manager-nim!” He calls out with a wide grin, throwing in a big salute for good measure. 

Characteristically, Chenle blinks unamusedly at him. 

“Hard at work, I see.” He notes, setting his briefcase on the bar, leaning on it in a flawlessly elegant manner that makes Jeno only a titch jealous. “But don’t I pay for _you_ to be the manager around here?” 

“Ah,” Jeno quickly corrects himself, saluting again, this time with an obnoxious bow, “Owner-nim~” 

Chenle’s lips quirk up at that and Jeno counts it as a success. 

“I’ve come bearing news,” Chenle says, quickly getting down to business as usual, “One of my contacts let me know that a drama is going to be filming close by. I imagine this will increase our foot traffic significantly.” 

“Oh, which drama?” Jeno asks, genuinely interested. He wonders if Song Joongki will be close by. If only! He gets really excited for just a moment only to be let down by his boss’s blank look. 

“I don’t know?” Said as if there is nothing less he would rather know. 

Jeno can’t help but to chuckle lightly. He’s never met such an ambitious man. The man is younger than him and a successful businessman and property owner in more than one country. He should’ve known that Chenle wouldn’t care about pop culture unless it was directly interacting with his business in some way. Now if they had decided to film at his restaurant itself, then maybe… 

“We should offer for them to film here,” Jeno suggests excitedly. Chenle is already shaking his head. 

“I considered it, but there’s too much to be done and we’d have to shut the store down for a while which would decrease profits.” A small shrug, “It’s not worth the minimal potential benefit, especially after they blur out all of our branding.” 

“Ah,” is Jeno’s intelligent response. That would be why he runs the business and doesn’t own it. 

“So I’m thinking that we may have to increase wait staff when their filming times are, I can get the inside scoop from my contact on when that will be, but we may want to hire-” Chenle very quickly gets into the nitty gritty. And Jeno listens because he is a great employee, but he can’t help but to space out a bit. 

What if he caught a glimpse of someone famous during his commute. 

That would be awesome. 

\-----

Chenle is right, as always. 

A drama starts filming nearby and it increases customer activity quite a bit. Especially when rumors start up that some of the cast come by during their breaks for food. 

It’s not true, but it works, and so Jeno can’t help but to wonder if Chenle somehow started the rumor himself. He wouldn’t put it past him. 

Before, he was used to the regular pace of the shifts. The natural come and go of a restaurant and bar, busy around meal times, right after the eight-hour work day lets out, and a few hours before close. The foot traffic from the drama fucks that all up and it becomes almost impossible to predict when they will film and thus makes it impossible to have the right amount of staff at the right times. That makes work less fun than it used to be but Chenle must be excited about the increase in profits. 

But he was not going to be happy if Jeno ended up quitting over the long shifts he now has to take. He’s got a work-life balance that he needs to pretend to maintain, after all. He can’t keep standing his grandmother up for dinner anymore. It just wasn’t filial. And that’s not his style. 

He’s accidentally overstaffed again and so he sends everyone but Renjun off including a relieved looking Jisung who pleads homework and is the first one out. It’s up in the air if he is telling the truth or not, but at least he won’t be blamed for the kids grades by keeping him here. 

Jeno is considering potentially calling it a night himself, leaving Renjun to close down the bar, when a couple decides to duck into the bar. 

The man has a baseball cap on, pulled low, and sunglasses despite it being past 10pm and the girl at his side is wearing a mask and a cap, leaving very little of her face to be seen. They bow quickly in greeting before darting to a semi-secluded corner booth. 

He has to bite on a groan, immediately recognizing that he has some “low key” celebrities in his establishment. He’s lived in Seoul long enough to recognize the signs, but… Why him? Why today? Why less than an hour after he has already sent most of his staff home? 

Renjun comes from the back and they trade a look. He gleefully picks up a menu and makes his way to the booth to wait on the couple. 

What a horrible gossip. He’s sure Renjun is only doing it to see if he can recognize who it is and plaster it all over social media. 

Chenle was going to love this publicity. Maybe Jeno could talk him into receiving a raise from this. He deserved it for dealing with all of the crap. 

“Long Island iced tea and a strawberry daiquiri,” Renjun orders to him, biting on his lips to keep his smile at bay, before bustling back to the kitchen with their food order. 

As Jeno’s hands get busy making drinks, he takes a moment to wonder which one is the man’s and which one is the girls. 

Renjun slides in by him as he is putting the finishing touches on his drinks. 

“Did you recognize them?” Jeno asks lowly so they couldn’t overhear them talking about them. 

Renjun shakes his head, “No, they haven’t dropped their terrible disguises yet.” 

“Ugh,” Jeno grunts. Still wearing the sunglasses even when talking to their server? Not cool. 

“Don’t you worry,” Renjun says knocking their hips together, “I’m going to get them when their food gets out.” 

Jeno laughs openly, only biting it back when the couple glance at him when he does. He puts the finished drinks on Renjun’s tray and receives a wink as the other man picks it up to deliver it to the table. 

Despite ordering food, they don’t touch any of it. Typical celebrities, Renjun says, but he is positive it’s more because he is bitter about not finding out who they are. They do, however, order several more drinks and don’t look like they are going anywhere. It’s well past when their kitchen closed and Renjun’s eyes are starting to droop. 

“Go home,” Jeno finally says, taking pity on him. 

“But I’m supposed to close up,” Renjun protests. Jeno shakes his head. 

“Yeah, but you’ve already done most of the close up tasks and those two are clearly not going anywhere for a while. It’s okay, go home. I’ll be okay by myself.” 

“But what if I miss out on finding out who they are?” Renjun throws up as a last protest. 

Jeno rolls his eyes, “I promise, under oath as your best friend, that I will notify you immediately if those two masked “celebrities” reveal themselves.” 

That seems to appease Renjun who starts to untie his apron. 

“You know I would stay if I didn’t have the little one at home.” He says with an apologetic smile. 

“Kiss him goodnight for me,” Jeno says with a smile, only a bit bitter he won’t be heading to bed himself. 

Renjun leaves him all alone with that booth that is clearly getting steadily drunker and Jeno wonders when he is going to be able to go home. To make himself feel better, he puts his favorite playlist on the speakers. 

“Too cute~” he sings under his breath. What? The song is cute and they are too far away to hear him anyways. He thinks a bit about the video from the other day, how all the blood drained from Donghyuck’s face at his mistake. 

Even if it was a genuine mistake, he wishes that some celebirty didn’t have to deny being gay so quickly like that. There’s been so much progress recently but in many ways, Jeno feels like their overly macho stars set them back thirty years. Again. 

Not that Donghyuck is overly macho. Jeno thinks back on a photoshoot he did recently with some skirt-like things. High fashion, he guesses. 

Before he knows it a few songs have passed and he glances back at the booth where the couple’s conversation seems to be picking up in energy. They both seem really caught up in the discussion that he is sure that they wouldn’t notice if he oh-so happened to play that song again. 

And if they did and complained about it, so what? He would just tell them the bar was closed and kick them out. 

Decided, Jeno adds the song onto queue. When it comes on he dances a little bit, humming happily. Anything to keep up his energy after having to stay so long after his scheduled shift. 

He is very startled when the woman stands up suddenly, knocking the table as she does so, and aggressively stomps out of the shop without so much as looking at him on her way out. 

Jeno freezes, not so much as even blinking, feeling like he was the one who somehow did something wrong. Also, he really hopes the man will be able to cover her tab because her drinks were not cheap. 

Wanting to respect the other man’s space, but also being a soft-hearted person, he turns down the music a bit so that he can call out to him. The other man is slumped over the table, head in his hands and Jeno genuinely feels bad for him. 

“Are you okay?” He asks, really hoping he hasn’t passed out or something. 

The man slides his sunglasses off of his face and Jeno is distracted by how handsome he is only by the overwhelming pout and teary eyes he has. He looks pretty miserable. 

“I need another drink,” the man moans, standing up from the booth to slouch over to the bar. 

Jeno has a moment to think about if he should actually give his man another drink when it’s clear he is already a bit drunk. But ultimately he decides to give him the benefit of the doubt. Getting dumped sucks a lot, even when straight. 

Humming along to the song that is still playing, he pours a shot of soju for both of them. 

“So cute without chu~” he sings without thinking much about it. When he turns to give the man his shot, his eyes are more teary than before. 

Feeling awkward, Jeno gives him the shot glass. “Cheers?” 

The man throws back his shot and nearly knocks his baseball cap off. Clearly deciding it’s not worth it, he takes it off and places it on the bar beside him. 

He’s got longer hair that is dyed blonde, deep round eyes, and overall handsome features. Jeno’s heart flutters in his chest along with a nudging feeling that he knows he has seen this person before. 

“Girls, am I right?” Jeno fishes out, playing out his straightest persona. 

The man sighs heavily, “Something like that.” 

Jeno at a loss for anything else to say pours them another shot. They silently take it together. 

“Did you mean to play that song twice while we were here or was it purely divine providence?” The man asks miserably, his broad shoulders hunched over. 

Jeno blinks, “Which song?” 

“Cute without you,” he sings in a surprisingly capable tone. 

“Ah, sorry, I’ve just been addicted to that song recently.” Jeno says abashedly, walking over to his phone, “Let me just take it off the queue.” 

“Again?” The customer asks in disbelief, leaning forward to thump his head against the counter. 

“What can I say, it’s been my guilty pleasure song,” he admits, quickly deleting it from his playlist. But he also pauses, curious, “I guess I didn’t realize that a song could put someone in such a mood.” 

The man huffs, lifting up on his elbows to pout at him. It’s really cute, despite himself, despite knowing better, he can feel his heart kick up a notch. 

“I suppose that would be the case for most people,” he takes the shot glass in his hands, playing with it with long fingers, “I suppose you don’t get a lot of customers that Lee Donghyuck has written a break up song about, now do you?” 

Jeno tries not to let the surprise filter over his face but it takes practically biting through his cheek to do so. 

“Ah, well, let me apologize with a shot on the house,” for a lack of anything better to say. He can’t very well ask more about it, that wouldn’t be fair with how drunk he is. Personally, it would devastate him to wake up the next day after some heavy drinking to realize that he had outed himself to a complete stranger and so he isn’t willing to put this man in that situation. 

Even if Jeno is desperately curious to figure out if he is a celebrity and if he was referring to himself or the lady that stomped out earlier. 

“And the tab,” the man says, wiping at the corners of his eyes and the small tears that have escaped. Jeno passes him both the shot and the tab and the man’s eyes widen at the total. He can’t help but wince in sympathy. Even with the free soju, the two of them had wracked up quite a bill. 

“I suppose this is me learning my lesson since I am clearly not ready to date again.” The man sighs heavily, pulling out his wallet, “If I come back with someone else, can you just stop me?” 

Jeno notes the gender neutral term but again bites his cheek to keep his nosiness at bay. It could be nothing. 

“If it makes you feel any better, I am really sorry. I will make sure that if you come back, that song will not play at all.” He says instead. 

A small, genuine smile slides onto the other man’s lips. Jeno can’t help but to think that smile suits him a lot better than his teary eyes. 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he promises. 

It’s only as the man walks away after thanking him that he can place who he had been talking to. There’s a beer poster given to him as free advertisement on the way out of the door that has Korea’s up and coming actor and the new “nation’s first love.” He also looks exactly like the man who just walked out of here. 

Na Jaemin. 

This is one thing he cannot keep to himself, immediately pulling out his phone to text Renjun. 

\-----

“Dude,” Renjun says with wide eyes the next time they see each other, the next morning right before the lunch shift, “Was it really Na Jaemin?” 

“I’m almost positive,” Jeno confirms. He might have thought that he dreamed up the whole thing but he is also so exhausted from having to work so late that it has to be true, “I mean he didn’t have all of his makeup on and stuff so he looked different, but I’m almost positive.” 

“Bullshit,” it’s now Renjun’s turn to say. 

“I swear to you!” Jeno protests, “I promised you that if I recognized him I’d text you. And I did.” 

“What about the woman?” 

“No idea, she stormed off and left Na Jaemin with the bill.” Jeno says. 

Renjun groans, “Why do I have a kid again? He ruins all of my fun.” 

“Because you love him?” Jeno suggests. Renjun throws a glare his way and he just shrugs in response. “Not sure what other answer you wanted me to give there, buddy.” 

Renjun narrows his eyes at him and kicks at his ankles. He has to dodge quickly. 

“I’m not sure how you have a kid when you still act like one,” he says snidely, grinning when it results in Renjun kicking more at him. 

“Should we tell Chenle?” Renjun asks after he has gotten his hits in, “He’d be ecstatic, I’m sure.” 

“Nah,” Jeno says easily, “I would feel weird about using the visit for potential publicity especially since he seemed so hurt.” 

“And he said Donghyuck wrote that song about him specifically?” Renjun asks. 

“Not in so many words, he was vague. But you would be too if talking to a complete stranger.” Jeno says, adding, “It was so vague that he could’ve been talking about the woman that was with him.” 

“Do you think he’ll come in again?” Renjun asks and Jeno can’t help but to think that he sounds a little hopeful. 

“C’mon, he’s a big time celebrity, there is no way he is coming back to our little, humble shop.” Jeno says, being as realistic as possible despite the small flurry of hope that beats in his chest. He beats it down. 

Renjun sighs heavily, “It’s a shame. I wish I could’ve seen him.” 

\-----

He honestly expects to never see Na Jaemin again. Why would he come back after a potentially misleading conversation that he probably wishes he hadn’t had with a complete stranger while drunk. 

But it takes Jaemin exactly two days after the original incident to come back to their shop and completely prove him wrong. 

This time he comes in with makeup on, eyes bright, and a charming smile on his face. Jeno’s heart starts beating wildly in his chest. Him being in his shop is much different now with the sun shining through the windows and the restaurant busier, his handsome face exposed and unashamed, completely different than last time he was here, covered up in the dark of night. 

Jeno is sure, at least, it wasn’t some waking dream now that he sees him in the bright of day. 

“Hi,” Jaemin greets politely, before asking with a grin, “Remember your promise?” 

“Yes,” he says immediately, eyes wide as Jaemin comes to sit at the bar again, the same spot he sat in a few nights ago as if it was something he does all the time, like he is a regular, “But you may need to excuse me for just a moment to change the playlist up.” 

Jaemin laughs brightly and Jeno can feel himself flush just a bit. Jisung is at the corner of eyesight, openly shocked. 

Jeno clears his throat, pleading with his eyes for Jisung to stop gaping even though he’d like to very much the same thing. 

“Jisung-ah, why don’t you make our guest a drink while I change up our music.” He suggests, raising his eyebrows so he can somehow transmit _behave_ silently. 

“Tea, please.” Jaemin asks kindly, shooting a grin his way. Jeno feels bad for the poor boy who clearly stops breathing when addressed by the handsome man. 

“What brings you to our restaurant?” Jeno asks, his heart beating fast. He figures pretending it’s their first visit would be the wisest option for him currently. Just in case he wants to pretend the whole night didn’t happen. 

“I’ve heard from the staff that there is a restaurant near our shooting site that has amazing food and even more handsome staff.” Jaemin remarks, flashing a grin, “I had to see it for myself.” 

“No alcohol this time?” Jeno asks lightly, can’t help but to tease Jaemin back, biting at his lips to keep a wide grin from his face. 

“Maybe later,” Jaemin says with a laugh. That might be the most they acknowledge the other night and that is perfectly fine with Jeno. Selfishly, he hopes it means that Jaemin might be inclined to come again if they pretend it never happened. 

“What can we get for you today?” Jeno asks, nudging their menu closer to him. Jaemin grabs it but also doesn’t open it up, looking deep into his eyes instead. 

“The cute staff member’s name, please.” Jaemin says without an ounce of shame. Jeno can feel himself flush straight down to his toes. The actor doesn’t look away, waiting patiently. 

“Lee Jeno,” he says grateful when Jisung comes over with some tea to give him something else to be preoccupied with rather than how excited Jaemin seems at learning his name. 

“I’m Na Jaemin,” he says around Jisung who is just trying to hurry up and get out of his general aura of brightness that surrounds Jaemin. 

“I know,” he says nodding to the beer advertisement behind the bar that has his face on it. 

Jaemin chuckles, “I suppose so, huh? Does that mean I get free beer since I help you advertise?” 

“You wish,” Jeno finds himself teasing back. He gets a grin in response almost as a reward for saying exactly the right thing. 

Jaemin is polite and kind and surprisingly witty despite the overall feeling that Jaemin seems to almost be flirting with him? But surely not, that must just be the affable energy that all actors need to have. He drinks his coffee with gusto, complimenting it as if Jeno had made the coffee beans himself himself. 

“I’ll see you next time we are filming in the area,” Jaemin says goodbye with a charming wave and a wink just for Jeno. 

“Is this going to be a thing now?” Jisung asks once Jaemin is safely away from the restaurant, “ And is it me or was he flirting with you?” 

“I’m not sure.” Jeno says honestly, a bit numb with the shock of the whole situation. 

\------

So apparently Jaemin’s drama films often near their shop. It has to be the same drama that Chenle spoke with him about several weeks ago, there was no way there were two dramas that just happened to be filming nearby. 

“Hi,” Jaemin greets for the third time in a week. 

“You’re basically a regular by now,” Renjun says dryly, tossing Jeno a look when he hip checks him for the comment. 

“How can I do my best filming when I haven’t had the best americano in town?” Jaemin asks with an easy smile. Maybe a bit too easy. 

“Coming right up,” Jeno flashes a smile back, turning his back on Jaemin to give Renjun a look. His coworker rolls his eyes and saunters to the kitchen while he starts up the espresso machine. He clearly got over his star struckness quickly and it shows. 

“How’s your day going?” Jeno asks while his hands are busy. 

“Much better now.” Jaemin says, sliding into a chair at the bar. 

Jeno beats down his automatic blanch at the easy talk, “Any food for you today?” 

“No,” Jaemin says with a pout that is cute despite coming from a grown man, “I’ve got a money making scene today and your food would not keep me in the best of shape.” 

“Money making? Do I want to know?” Jeno asks, sliding an iced americano across the bar to him. 

“Shirtless,” Jaemin makes a face, “All I’m allowed to eat today is caffeine.” 

“That doesn’t sound like much fun, making money or otherwise,” Jeno notes. 

“It’s not.” Jaemin says a bit quietly. 

“Seems a shame to do something you don’t like to do.” Jeno says conversationally. He only looks up from where he is cleaning the espresso machine when there is a noticeable silence. 

“You are disarmingly easy to talk to,” Jaemin notes, chin on his hand, watching him with glittering eyes. 

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Jeno comments with a quirked eyebrow. 

Jaemin’s eyes haven’t lost their mysterious shine. 

“I haven’t decided if it is or isn’t yet.” He finally ends up saying. 

“Somethings up with him,” Renjun says when Jaemin leaves to go back to the shoot. Jeno makes sure he is looking when he gives him a big roll of his eyes. “He is, I’m sure of it.” 

“Give it a rest, Renjun.” 

“He comes around with full makeup, no disguises. It’s like he wants to be seen here.” 

“Are you going to complain to Chenle about the potential publicity?” Jeno asks incredulously. 

“But why? Why here? Surely they provide him food on set?” Renjun asks. 

Jeno has to admit he’s made a good point. But he’s not willing to admit it so he takes his towel and whips it at Renjun instead. ‘ 

“Oh, real adult-like,” he chides but then gleefully chases him around to whip him back. 

\-------

“Hyung,” Jisung says, scaring the bejesus out of him where he was doing stock in the back. 

Heart racing, he turns with wide eyes, “What the hell?” 

“Sorry,” Jisung winces, “But I think that celebrity is here to see you again. He’s asking for you.” 

“Asking for me?” That would be really unusual considering Jaemin had just been there for lunch that very day. It’s well past dinner now and the actor hasn’t come at this time of the day since the first time he had come around for a drink. Maybe something happened? Worried, Jeno hurriedly stacks some bags of coffee beans so they sit correctly when he is gone. 

“Okay, I’ll be right up.” He says. 

Sure enough, there is a man sitting in the last seat at the bar, a cap pulled low, a mask pulled high, but there is something that doesn’t seem quite right. Putting aside the fact that Jaemin hasn’t come back to the shop in his shitty disguise since that first night, this person is a bit smaller in stature with sloping shoulders, completely different from what he has learned about Jaemin. A bit of orange peeks from under his cap and unless Jaemin had dyed his hair in the few hours since lunch, this was definitely not the actor. 

He’s so different that he actually is not sure why Jisung thought it was Jaemin. Did he need his vision checked? 

“Can I help you?” he asks, leaning down to wash his hands in the sink below the bar in case he was asked to make a drink. 

“I’ve heard this little rinky shop has good coffee and I’ve come to see if they are lying or not,” the stranger says with a heavy amount of what seems like misplaced snark. Jeno, being an expert in customer service, doesn’t rise to the bait, plastering on his tried and true smile, eyes crinkling. 

“What are you feeling today?” He asks, drying his hands, careful to regulate his breathing. The easiest reaction to stay calm in the face of a potentially rude customer. 

“Like I need caffeine,” is the dry response. 

“In the form of an espresso drink?” he asks smoothly, ignoring the obvious opportunity to snap back. 

The man leans his cheek on his hand and Jeno is only barely able to see his eyes narrow beneath his cap, “Dealer’s choice.” 

It’s almost like this stranger is testing him. He’s not sure why he would test a normie like him on his coffee skills of all things. He’s really not sure what exactly was going on, but he decides to take the interaction with grace and ease. He’s a good barista and bartender, he’s good with his hands and knows the flavors like the back of his hand. Jeno has nothing to prove to this stranger, he knows his worth and so he doesn’t need to get caught up in this man’s desire to get a rise out of him. 

With practiced ease, Jeno pushes his sleeves up his arms and gets to work. A cappuccino isn’t uncommon to find in Seoul especially with the craze of the foam art and social media, but that’s not what a cappuccino is to Jeno. A traditional drink, a cappuccino is the perfect blend of espresso with the right amount of foam made in the most perfect way to get the milk to the right heat to ensure right density of bubbles. To truly test a barista’s skills, a cappuccino is the drink to order. Besides that, Jeno finds it the most fun to make and it’s delicious to boot. 

With a slight flourish, Jeno presents the man with his cappuccino. He may have nothing to prove but it gives him great satisfaction to see the man’s eyes widen throughout his process and so he couldn’t help himself but to show off a bit at the end. 

The man stares down at the cup for a moment before glancing back up at him quickly. Jeno parries with a bright smile, using the eye smile he was born with for his own purposes. It works, as it always does, and the man quickly looks away. When he pulls down the mask to take a sip, Jeno swears he can see a bit of a blush. 

Wide eyes look back up at him quickly after the first sip, he says, somewhat surprised with himself, “It’s good.” 

“Of course,” Jeno says confidently, “You didn’t hear we had good coffee for no reason, right?” 

The man looks a bit sour at that, dipping back down to his cup, effectively hiding his face from Jeno. The shop is empty of customers other than this one man which is why Jeno had been back doing stock in the first place so he doesn’t mind leaning against the bar behind him to keep the stranger company even if he’s been an ass. His mother always told him that you never know where the hurt is coming from when people are rude to you first. So he tries to be kind. And this man looks like he needs the company. 

“I thought the coffee was exaggerated,” the man suddenly says, halfway through his cup. 

Jeno had been humming a song idly and almost missed the statement completely. 

“Exaggerated how?” he asks, curious. 

“You know how this country is, more distracted by the pretty barista behind the counter to taste much of the coffee itself.” He remarks, a bit of loathing in his voice sharpening his tone to be almost hostile. 

It takes him a moment to work through the sentence to find the backhanded compliment. But then he hears it and can’t help but to point it out. 

“Do I pass the test on both levels?” He teases, 

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say as he stands roughly and slams some money on the counter. It’s presumably for the coffee and Jeno can’t help but to feel a bit soft at the man who is so furious he is about to storm out of the store but also kind enough to make sure he settles his bill before he does so. It’s a bit cute. Assholes would just left them high and dry. It’s only one coffee after all. But this man seems to be a lot of bluster and no bite. 

“I still don’t get it,” he hisses at him, his mask is still down from where he was drinking the coffee and Jeno can see the anger flicker over his facial features before he turns on his heel and stomps out. 

“What just happened?” Renjun asks from behind him. Jeno jumps as he hadn’t seen him come in for his shift. The brat laughs at him, “Jisung said you were having a hard time with a customer when I clocked in.” 

Jeno hums thoughtfully, eyes drifting back to their store door where the man just left. He chews on his bottom lip, considering. 

“Not really a hard time,” he comments idly, “Odd but not hard.” 

Renjun gives him a look and he knows he sounds crazy but he’s not really willing to get into it and so he makes a point to roll his eyes at him. Their secret friendship signal that everything is okay. 

“Can I make a joke about you being hard now?” Renjun asks, clearly comfortable with the silent signal. 

“Yes,” he says resignedly, eyes rolling up the ceiling. 

In the two more hours that their shifts overlap, he hears approximately thirteen innuendos for being hard. And even one for being odd _and_ hard which Jeno has to confess that he is a bit impressed with the creativity there. 

When he is doing his last wash up for his shift, he casually turns to Renjun who is preoccupied with making some extravagant drink that is on special today. 

“Hey, do you know what color Donghyuck’s hair is right now?” he asks, very casually. 

Renjun barely gives him a look, busy paying attention to the drink at hand, answering without much thought. “ 

I think he just dyed it orange. Twitter was freaking out about it last night. Why?” 

“No reason,” Jeno says, turning to undo his apron and think about what this means for his restaurant. And himself. 

\-------

“I am so sorry!” is the first thing out of Jaemin’s mouth next time he sees them. 

Jeno’s eyebrows raise, “For what?” 

Jaemin leans over the counter so he can speak lowly to him. Jeno would be lying if he said he didn’t like the way it wafted his earthy scent as he does so. 

“I heard Donghyuck stopped by,” Jaemin says, a bit concernedly, eyes carefully looking between his own. 

“Ah,” Jeno says, hands already busy making Jaemin’s americano. “Well, he didn’t introduce himself….” 

Jaemin groans, flopping onto the countertop, “He was rude, wasn’t he?” 

Jeno takes a moment to think about his answer, “No?” 

A blonde head snaps up at that, eyes searching his own, “No?” 

“I’ve dealt with worse,” Jeno says with a shrug. He takes a moment before adopting an evil smirk, “For example, once this customer cried on me and demanded to stop playing this one specific song-” 

Throwing his head back, Jaemin lets out a laugh that echoes pleasantly around the room. It draws other customer’s eyes and Jeno himself is distracted by how long his neck looks like that. In the middle of shaking himself from his thoughts, Jaemin meet his eyes that are dancing with mirth, a perfect smile on his lips. 

He didn’t think it would be possible, but sometimes Jeno forgets how handsome the actor is. Something about being exposed to it makes him lower his defenses around him but then Jaemin goes and does something like that and reminds Jeno just of how perfectly handsome this man is. And then he kicks himself before putting up his defenses again, desperately trying to make them stronger than before. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell him to not bother you anymore.” Jaemin says, his eyes still sparkling at him somehow. Jeno gulps and gathers his wits. 

This is one of those crossroads that life gives occasionally. He has the opportunity to bring Donghyuck up. To get some clarity on what happened during that terrible date and to get into some of the details that they both have been dancing around. Is Jaemin queer? Did he date Donghyuck? Why did he keep hanging around the cafe? And how exactly did Donghyuck come to find out about the restaurant in the first place? Did Jaemin talk about him in his “real” life? 

He hovers on indecisive when the moment passes. He turns and jumps when Renjun gets into his face, staring at him with dead eyes. 

“Lee Donghyuck was here?” he asks with a fake calm that Jeno knows is anything but. Oh, fuck. 

“No?” He winces when Renjun grabs his elbow and his fingernails dig in through his shirt and into his skin. Those weird blank eyes stare at him again. 

“Lee Donghyuck was in this very building and _you didn’t tell me?_ ” Renjun ends in a shrill tone. 

“Well-” he starts to explain but then his eyes drift back to Jaemin who is watching them amusedly as if seeing how Jeno will deal with this situation. He ends up laughing awkwardly, not really sure what to say between the two of them. “Yes?” 

Jaemin somehow slips out between Renjun shaking his shoulders violently and throwing a wet rag in his face. He doesn’t mind, he just wishes he could’ve escaped with him. Jeno finally hides from him in the restaurant walk-in fridge, willing to freeze for a bit to not hear Renjun’s furious explanation that Donghyuck was currently hiding from everyone and cancelled all his plans and so if he turns up in a tiny cafe like theirs, he needs to immediately let him know. 

He shivers and sneezes but is grateful for the silence. 

\----

A day after Jaemin swearing he’ll make sure Donghyuck doesn’t come back to the shop, Donghyuck shows back up at his shop. 

He slouches into a bar stool and glares at him until he finishes with an order for another customer. He’s not wearing a face mask this time, but he still has a cap pulled low, only the hot glare of his eyes visible. 

And Jeno is not really sure what he expected. If he was told by his uncomfirmed ex-boyfriend to not go somewhere, that’s probably the first thing he would do. He can be stubborn like that. He can only imagine Donghyuck is much more stubborn than him. 

Donghyuck only proves his point when he waves off Jisung and points specifically at Jeno. 

“Hello, Mr. Customer,” Jeno says with his wide, customer-service, smile. He’s a bit on his guard, not sure what to expect from the other. 

“Cappuccino,” is all he says. Jeno nods and turns to get started. He doesn’t let the bluntness get in his way because he suspects that it might just be the way Donghyuck deals with people he is unsure of. Jeno likes to think he is a fairly good judgement of people. He tries to keep that in mind despite Jisung being perfectly capable of making a cappuccino for one troubled idol. 

Taking a deep breath, Jeno pushes up his sleeves and gets to work. 

Jeno is very aware of Donghyuck’s eyes on him as he makes the cappuccino. It’s hard not to. It’s almost as if his eyes have weight to them. He can feel them on his hands, his forearms. 

Suddenly, he thinks that Renjun would be jealous if he was here. Then he reminds himself to text him about Donghyuck’s arrival. But maybe after Donghyuck left since he could see Renjun hightailing it over here just to sneak a glimpse at him. But it’s his first day off in many days and Jeno wants him to spend it with his kid. So he decides to wait. 

His thoughts whirl, but his hands are steady and he is pleased when his foam comes out better than he expected considering how distracted he is by the weight of Donghyuck’s stare. 

“A cappuccino, as requested.” Jeno says politely, careful when he places it in front of Donghyuck. He doesn’t get an acknowledgement other than the man’s hands on the cup, almost immediately bringing it to his lips. 

Jeno gets one of those feelings again and so he hangs around the end of the bar where Donghyuck is sitting, doing small chores so that the man can’t tell that he is hanging around to keep him company again. 

Donghyuck stays surprisingly quiet considering how fiesty he was last time. He seems a bit down, only lifting his eyes from his cup to sneak a glance at the door. He keeps sneaking glances to the door as he sips his way through his drink and even orders another one. 

“Are you waiting for someone?” Jeno asks when he sets down his second cup, curious and trying to be polite. 

Donghyuck bristles, his seemingly melancholy mood disappearing in a flash. 

“Mind your own business.” He hisses. 

“Oh okay,” Jeno says, somehow feeling like this is a moment to press him, “It just seems like you are waiting on someone.” 

“Fuck you.” Donghyuck says, standing up from his untouched second cappuccino. 

For the second time, Donghyuck storms out of his shop. But not before leaving money for both of his drinks, including the one he didn’t drink, and even a bit of tip. 

Jeno can’t help but to smile fondly at his back. Why does his snarkiness endear Donghyuck more to him? What does it say about him that he finds it kind of cute? 

Quickly dispelling those thoughts, Jeno physically shakes his head. Donghyuck being gay or not, Jeno is not a celebrity and he needed to get a hold on those feelings before they built to something he can’t handle. 

The feeling feels far too familiar and it takes him just a moment before Jaemin’s smile flashes through his memories. 

Oh god, he needed to get a hold onto this and fast. Crushing on one celebrity was stupid, but two was completely insane. 

Wanting to distract himself, Jeno slides his phone out from his pocket and texts Renjun. 

**Your boy was just here.** He sends. A response is sent back to him within moments, his phone buzzing with multiple texts sent in a row. It gives him far too much joy to set his phone by the cash register and walk away from it. 

That is until Renjun calls the restaurant phone simply to shout into his ear. Jisung winces and takes the customer walking in from him as he continues to get an earful from his friend. Sometimes, Jisung really shows his dependability when Jeno needs it the most and remembers why he lets him constantly lie about his homework load to get out of his shift early. 

\-----

The next couple weeks play an awful lot like the first one. Jaemin will come in between filming and drink only coffee for his “money making” scenes, apologize for Donghyuck coming to bother Jeno, flirting with him boldly, and then dancing out of his restaurant. 

Donghyuck will then show up somehow at the exact times Jaemin isn’t, order a few cappuccinos and spend his time glaring at him and taking peeks at the door. 

It’s all so painfully obvious that Jeno doesn’t bother to ask Jaemin about Donghyuck anymore. Their relationship seems pretty obvious to him now. Something tells him that the idol is here for more than his amazing cappuccinos. 

Renjun is sitting on a bar stool today, sorting through silverware as Jeno mans the bar. He’s staring at Donghyuck on the other side of the bar, who is glaring at Jeno, who in turn is pleading with his eyes for Renjun to stop staring at the singer. It’s a weird triangle-thing they have going on currently. 

“Do you think it’ll happen today?” Renjun asks out of nowhere. The shine seems to have been worn from when he was excited to see Donghyuck in the shop. 

“What will happen?” Jeno asks as he looks at the shift schedule for next week. 

“Do you think the two of them will finally meet up today?” He asks and Jeno snaps up, narrowing his eyes at him. 

“Wanting to see your celebrity gossip first hand?” Jeno fires back. He feels a bit defensive for whatever reason. Even if its out of character for him and his friendship with Renjun. Like being splashed with cold water, Jeno turns and apologizes. 

“I’m sorry,” he says easily. Renjun takes the apology just as easily but does tut him. 

“Sensitive,” he remarks. And Jeno’s first instinct is to disagree which of course probably means that his best friend is exactly right. He sighs. 

“I don’t really know why,” he admits, turning back to the schedule more so he has something to do rather than actually do any adjustments. His eyes aren’t really seeing the words on the page. 

“Hm,” Renjun hums in that tell-tale way that Jeno knows for years now and has annoyed him just as long. He groans. 

“Just tell me already.” Jeno says. 

“Oh, this is surprising, you want to skip the part where you pretend not to know things and cut straight to the quick and get my truth?” Renjun says with a raised eyebrow. That tone in addition to the judgemental eyebrow is a deadly pair but Jeno has enough to brace himself. 

“This part is almost as bad as the ‘I told you so’,” Jeno mumbles, preparing himself but also realizing that this is much preferable to the eventually ‘I told you so’ that Renjun always seems to have prepared for him. 

“You’ve made a safe haven for them.” Renjun says before adding dryly, “Even if they are the two most impossible idiots I’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting, they deserve a safe space to figure out their relationship and you don’t want people gawking just to gawk. Even if it’s me.” 

Ah. Jeno’s chest twinge a bit. Has he though? Made a safe space for them? It’s hard enough to be a gay man in Korean let alone a secret gay celebritiy couple with the spotlight on them, looking for every sign of if Donghyuck’s slip up at the concert was true. 

Even if he couldn’t relate to the fame or the constant public scrutiny, he could empathize with what it was like to have to sneak around, to have to figure things out the hard way. He wonders even if they have anyone they are out to or if they have any gay friends they could talk to. 

Not that they know he is gay. He doesn’t hide it anymore but it’s not like they’ve had a talk about it. Yet. 

“If those two are idiots, then you are the most self-unaware person I’ve ever met.” Renjun sighs exasperatedly. 

“But you love me anyways,” Jeno replies without a pause, his mind still busy. 

“But I still love you,” Renjun says, a tried and true call and answer for them. 

“Love me enough to take a morning shift on a day a delivery truck is due to stop by?” Jeno says, getting back to the task at hand. 

“No.” Renjun replies firmly. Jeno laughs warmly, feeling a bit better even when he wasn’t sure that he had been feeling bad in the first place. Renjun tended to have that effect on him. 

He’s grateful to have someone like Renjun in his life for these complicated times. 

\-----

It does eventually end up happening but not in the way anyone was expecting. 

To be fair, Jeno isn’t sure what they were expecting when the two celebrities schedules at the shop finally collide but it wasn’t that he would walk into the shop and immediately see Jaemin there, blonde and smiley and tan and charming the pants off of Jisung. 

“Hello, Jeno!” Jaemin greets warmly when he sees him come to the shop, his bright eyes switching to fix on him which, when Jeno takes a glance, Jisung looks completely relieved about. 

“How are you doing, Jaemin?” Jeno greets, his heart warm that the actor is here again. He doesn’t have much time to think about the instinctive reaction or Jaemin’s answer as when he ducks behind the bar and immediately sees Donghyuck hiding in the corner of it. 

Freezing in place, Jeno isn’t sure how to process the sight of Donghyuck crouching in the corner, pressed up against the short fridge that keeps some of their drink ingredients. He doesn’t look comfortable, that is for sure, but he frantically gestures at him until Jeno sees him raising his finger to his lips, silently asking him to keep quiet. 

There’s a moment where Jeno really wants to do the opposite. To call Donghyuck out and finally get these seemingly opposite forces to finally come together and sit back to see what fireworks come from it. It would almost be a bit of Donghyuck’s own medicine. Why would he do something kind for him after weeks of silent glares and judgemental sips of his coffee. 

But he doesn’t. Because when it comes down to it, Jeno has a big old soft heart that he lets everyone step all over it. Everyone including bratty idols who are having a sexuality crisis the entire country is involved in. 

He looks up from Donghyuck’s panicked face to see Jaemin looking at him curiously. 

“What?” he says, trying to keep the calm in his face and voice so he doesn’t give anything away. Including a celebrity crouching at his feet. He’s not so sure he succeeds. 

“Americano?” Jaemin says in a tone that obviously tells him that he is repeating himself. 

“Ah, coming right up.” He says, putting on his best customer-service smile taking a glance at Jisung, “Why don’t you take the trash out while I’m whipping this drink up.” 

“Trash…” Jisung trails off before it seems to click, “Ah, yes, I’ll take the trash out back.” 

Jisung starts to gather up the “trash” but Donghyuck doesn’t seem to get it until Jeno puts a well placed kick in his side. He whips up and looks insulted, even mouthing “trash?” in a way that seems upset. It gives Jeno far too much joy to ignore him as Jisung stealthy escorts Donghyuck to the back along with the other trash and out of Jaemin’s view but Jeno makes sure to plant himself between Jaemin’s viewpoint of the bar, leaning over to smile brightly at him. 

Jaemin doesn’t seem to think anything much of it, leaning on a palm to smile back at him. 

“How lucky I am to see you,” he says warmly and with slitted eyes. Jeno’s heart skips a beat at the look, one that is far more genuine than any one he’s seen in his drama, but he is careful to not let it get to his head. 

“Don’t you ask Jisung for my work schedule?” Jeno asks. 

“Only because I want to make sure I get the best americano.” Jaemin replies easily. Jeno wants to say that an americano is one of the easiest drinks to make, after all it’s just espresso and hot water, but something holds him back. Maybe he doesn’t mind it when Jaemin stops by during his shift. Selfishly, he likes to talk with Jaemin, it makes the time go by faster. 

But for now, he quickly makes his americano and is interrupted by Jaemin. 

“Sorry, but can you make it to-go?” He asks with a wince, “I’ve already snuck out of the filming site for longer than I should have.” 

“Of course,” Jeno says, pulling a disposable cup out of its place and setting it on the counter with a fancy spin. It draws a pleased chuckle out of Jaemin, just as he suspected it might. He always seems to enjoy when Jeno pulls out his fancy bartending tricks. “Though, I’m sad you aren’t staying for a while longer.” 

“It’s your fault you showed up late for your shift today,” Jaemin says, eyes fixed on his hands, seemingly uncaring if he admits that he knows Jeno’s work schedule. Jeno smiles and concentrates on what he is doing. He’s only pulled out of his thoughts when Jaemin speaks up again, his tone changing. 

“If I could stay, I would.” he says softly. Jeno’s heart racks up its speed at that. Frantically, he tries to push down the gut reaction and focuses on what Jaemin probably actually means. 

“Hard day at the shoot?” He asks. 

There’s a stretch of silence and Jeno looks up from what he is doing and almost immediately catches Jaemin’s eyes. They are warm. 

“Something like that,” he says vaguely. 

“Well, sounds like you deserve an americano on the house,” Jeno says with a slight blush, frantically trying to beat away the reaction and keeping his eyes low and on the drink instead of on Jaemin. He feels slightly disarmed even though the answer was vague. 

“I can’t,” Jaemin says, reaching for his wallet. Without much thought, Jeno reaches over and grabs his wrist. Jaemin looks up in shock and Jeno tries not to think about the electric feeling that shoots up his arm at where they are touching. 

“You can,” he says and smiles. It’s not quite is best-customer service smile, something a bit more genuine. 

Much to his surprise, Jaemin leans forward with a determined look on his face. His heart kicks into overdrive, eyes widening and he holds his breath in anticipation when Jaemin gently touches his cheek. 

“An eyelash,” Jaemin says and Jeno swears that’s the cheekiest smirk he’s seen on him, completely unlike the good boy persona he usually has plastered on. He presents his own eyelash on the tip of his finger and offers, “Make a wish?” 

Jeno is far too out of it to make a coherent wish but still, he obeys blowing the eyelash off his finger. Jaemin’s eyes sparkle and he grabs the americano and takes a swig as he stands. 

“See you tomorrow.” He says with a wave, leaving Jeno to his spiralling thoughts. 

He doesn’t let himself have much to think about it before he starts making a cappuccino. He takes it into the back of the store with him. Jisung seems a bit flummoxed but Donghyuck is setting at their break table, his head in his hands. 

“Watch the store,” he directs Jisung, “I’ve got this one.” 

At his voice, Donghyuck’s head snaps up and he glares at him. Jisung is all too happy to scuttle off and leave him with the bratty idol and Jeno envies him just a bit as he places the cappuccino in front of Donghyuck. 

“He’s gone now, if you want to come back out,” he says a lot more calmly than he feels. At that Donghyuck thunks his head back onto the table and groans. It rattles the coffee cup with his cappuccino and Jeno is halfway to a scolding when Donghyuck’s head shoots back up and he grabs onto the cup. 

“Sorry,” Donghyuck mumbles, looking more at the cup than at him. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Jeno asks because he’s got a big, soft heart and apparently is willing to get caught up in his messy situation because he cares too damn much. 

“No,” Donghyuck responds honestly and Jeno doesn’t blame him. But Donghyuck’s face goes soft and he puts his hands around his cup as if it’s the only thing warming him now. His eyes look sad and Jeno is almost positive that he brings the cappuccino to his lips so that he hide some tears that start to well up. After a sip, he says, “Thank you.” 

Jeno swallows at that, a squeezing sensation wrapping around his chest and restricting the deep gasp he wants to let out. 

“No problem,” Jeno says casually as if that wasn’t the first time Donghyuck said thank you to him. He wasn’t sure his vocabulary was much more than a gruff ‘cappuccino’ at this point. Desperately trying to find something to lighten the atmosphere, he thinks about his own last break up and says, “I also have stronger drinks if you’d like.” 

That seems to break a small smile onto Donghyuck’s face. 

“Next time,” he says before taking another sip, this time finding his eyes so he can see the laughter that is glittering there. 

Jeno can’t help but to look forward to it. 

\----

Standing from where he was crouched down wiping the front of the fridge with a soap cloth, Jeno scretches up, ignoring when his back cracks uncomfortably. 

“Alright, I’m calling it,” he says to Jisung who is sweeping up the last of the floor behind the bar, “You are free to go, just lock the door before you leave.” 

He barely finishes his sentence before Jisung is hustling to the break room. Rolling his eyes, he drops his rag in the dirty pile and walks to where his phone is hooked up to the speaker system. If he is here finishing up by himself, he gets to listen to whatever he pleases. 

Jeno puts on his favorite playlist, pauses a moment, and then skips “Cute without You” to the top of his playlist. When he hears the back door close, he then puts it a few times in his queue simply because he can. He’s had to take it off the shop’s regular playlist and so he needs to get the plays in the speakers while he can. 

This is his favorite time in the shop. Just him and music and nothing but ingredients to try and make up the next new drink for the shop. He just got a shipment of some fancy Scottish gin that he is looking forward to playing with and so he takes that out first. 

He tastes it on his own first and coughs when its a bit stronger than he expected. It’s going to be one of those nights, huh? 

He is a few experimental recipes in when he starts to feel the buzz. 

“Cute without you~” he sings to himself, even shaking his hips a bit before he ducks down to grab some lavender syrup that is behind a few jugs of milk. When he pops back up he uses it as a microphone, “So cute without you!” 

He turns back to his drink only to jump and scream when he sees Donghyuck looking at him amusedly. 

“What are you doing here?” He shrieks. 

Donghyuck has a shit-eating grin, saying simply, “The door was open.” 

“Ugh,” He groans, putting his hand over his heart where it is still beating rapidly, “Jisung that idiot must have forgotten to lock the front door.” 

“Oh, are you closed?” Donghyuck says but doesn’t bother to look even a bit pained to sit at the counter as if that even if the shop is closed, it wouldn’t be for him. 

“Maybe,” Jeno says, eyes a bit narrowed, trying to figure out how he can somehow get Donghyuck out of his shop while hiding that he is a bit tipsy in his own bar. 

His music shuffle betrays him and plays Donghyuck’s song immediately after it just finished. There is a moment where they look at each other and Cute Without You is playing in the background and in a weird break from reality, Jeno realizes that this probably the most surreal moment he’s ever had in his entire life. 

“So you are a fan, huh?” Donghyuck asks smugly. 

“No,” Jeno protests in vain. Donghyuck’s smirk doesn’t go anywhere. He hurriedly goes to his phone and puts on Best of IU because you can’t go wrong with the celebrity of celebrities. 

“I should’ve known you were my fan from the very beginning,” Donghyuck says, “I’m surprised this is the first time I’ve heard you play my song here.” 

“I just like that one song,” Jeno tries but it’s unsuccessful when the idol just laughs at him, finishing a bit bitterly, “Why are you here anyways?” 

“I thought I would take you up on your offer for a stronger drink,” Donghyuck says, pulling his cap off and is officially his most fully undisguised self for the first time in his shop. He runs his hands through his orange hair, sweeping it back from his face and it is so unfairly flattering that Jeno forgets the original offer he made to him last time he was in the shop. 

“What are you looking for?” Jeno asks so he can think about something other than how young and handsome Donghyuck looks. Round cheeked and the curl of his lips. 

“Dealer’s choice,” Donghyuck says, obviously calling back to the first time he came into his shop. Jeno’s heart skips a beat and he decides he needs to make something easy because he is clearly tipsier than he should be around a handsome singer. 

“I’ve been experimenting with a new gin and haven’t settled on something I like yet,” Jeno says, trying not to sound like he is drunk rambling, as he reaches, “You like coffee, have you tried an Irish Coffee?” 

Donghyuck raises an eyebrow at him but thankfully does not call him out, shaking his head in the negative instead. 

“Perfect,” Jeno says, clapping his hands. And he decides to make two because what the hell, he’s already two sheets to the wind, he might as well be full committed to it. 

He’s thoroughly pleased when Donghyuck takes his first sip and looks up at him in wonder over the lip of his cup. 

“Wow,” he says with a bit of surprise. 

Happy that he has put the famous Donghyuck in check and not for the first time, Jeno raises his glass to him before taking a drink himself, “You are welcome.” 

He knew it, he is the best drink maker, alcoholic or espresso based, in Seoul. 

A smile plays at the corner of Donghyuck’s mouth and Jeno is distracted by it enough until the idol opens his mouth and lets words come out. 

“Do you often sit and get drunk by yourself when your shop is closed?” He asks smugly. Jeno then remembers how unpleasant Donghyuck has been in his shop. 

“No,” he says defensively. There was no need to call him out like that. 

“Today is a special occasion then?” Donghyuck asks as he takes another sip, his eyes glittering as he does so. 

“It’s my job to find new drink recipes for the shop, it’s not always easy,” Jeno says before he thinks twice about it, why is he defending himself? He has no reason to provide justification to anyone let alone Donghyuck. So he retorts sharply and with some pleasure, “Do you often stop by a lowly, unknown shop to get drunk with a strange bartender?” 

“Are you a bartender or a barista?” Donghyuck asks, setting his mug down as if Jeno hadn’t just tried to actually be mean to someone for once. It doesn’t appear to have affected him all. 

“Both?” Jeno responses with a bit of confusion. At the uncertainty in his voice, Donghyuck erupts into laughter. The sound of his laugh surprises him and Jeno realizes with a jolt that it’s the first genuine laughter he’s heard from the idol. Not a glare or a shout, a genuine laugh that echoes around the shop in warm tones. It’s really pleasant. He kind of wishes he would laugh more often. Maybe he can make him laugh more. 

Donghyuck takes a breath after he’s done laughing but he keeps the smile on his face, keeping Jeno’s chest warm as he would not admit to trying to think of something else to say to make Donghyuck laugh again. He picks up his cup for another sip, taking his time and Jeno has to shake himself from staring, taking a drink from his own drink. 

“I think you answered your own question,” Donghyuck says lowly. 

Jeno blinks at him, confused. 

“I don’t often stop by a low shop to get drunk with a strange bartender,” Donghyuck says as if he’s painfully spelling out the entire situation to him, but its slow and feels intimate, “But I do like to stop by this place with this weirdly disarming man who can’t decide if he is a barista or a bartender.” 

The sentiment catches him off guard, a bit off balance with no real way to think soundly about what Donghyuck just said. It feels like a compliment in as many ways as it doesn’t. 

“Either or, you make a mean drink,” Donghyuck says as if he is finishing up his weird backhanded compliment neatly and seemingly oblivious to Jeno’s inner turmoil. And then he lifts his drink to his lips and tilts his head back, impressively neatly finishing his drink. 

“Oh,” Jeno ends up says, dumbly. Not sure to process the weird compliments or think about how eye catching his neck is thrown back like that. 

The easier solution is in between them and so he then makes them both another drink. 

When he wakes up the next morning, his memories are fuzzy and he immediately regrets how drunk he got. Worst of all, he doesn’t really remember getting home last night. 

He scrunches up his face, trying to think through the pounding headache as he pulls a pillow over his head to block out the morning light. 

“Why did you hide?” Jeno remembers asking. 

“I don’t know if I’m ready to face him yet,” he thinks the answer was. And was there tears? 

Jeno groans. What the hell was he thinking by getting a singer down on his luck extremely drunk and purposefully putting himself in the middle of a celebrity love squabble for the ages. 

\------

“Can to explain to me why I came into the shop to open this morning and there were a _pile_ of dirty dishes in the sink?” Renjun hounds him the moment he is in for work. 

Jeno groans and holds his head, “Shh, just a bit quieter.” 

“Oh my god,” Renjun now looks like he is going to blow his lid, “Are you _hungover_?” 

“No,” Jeno lies and then immediately winces when Renjun punches his arm and storms away. 

Not the best reaction but it’s far better than if Renjun knew why he was so hungover. 

_“Oh, I was just drunk past store hours with Donghyuck. You know the one? The amazingly hot idol who comes to mope about his equal hot ex-boyfriend? Oh, did I not tell you that, I finally got confirmation they were dating last night? I think, I don’t know, I was pretty drunk.”_ He imagines telling Renjun. 

The imaginary Renjun then promptly roughly flings Jeno out the nearest window. 

No, a lie was the much safer option than telling the truth. 

His day only gets worse when he dons his apron and heads to front of house, he sees Chenle waiting for him at the bar. Renjun is fuming a few feet away. He groans and braces himself before greeting Chenle. 

“Not your usual bright greeting,” Chenle comments. Jeno is honestly surprised he even noticed and searches for something to say about it until Chenle suddenly seems to change his mind, shaking his head, “Nevermind, we’ve got to talk to shop and I don’t have much time.” 

He turns to Renjun and asks for two coffees, pointing at a booth where they presumably will be having their meeting. Jeno winces when he sees Renjun’s fake smile and the assurance he’ll bring it to them promptly in his chippierest voice. 

Renjun is clearly pissed at him. Jeno can’t do anything but wince behind Chenle’s back and hunch his shoulders over guilty. 

Chenle characteristically doesn’t notice anything amiss and they sit at the booth. Renjun brings over their coffee and makes sure to spill just a little bit on his hand as he does so. Jeno yelps and quickly turns a glare on him, clutching his hand. 

“Oh so sorry, manager-nim,” he says with a large eye smile and a pleasant tone that would read well for any stranger but only reads as icy cold to Jeno. 

Scratch that, Renjun is _livid_. 

Chenle doesn’t notice any difference and Jeno is left wondering at his obliviousness as Chenle instead busies himself with bringing out file folders and papers with charts from his briefcase. Really, who carries file folders around with them? Maybe that’s why Chenle was so much more successful than he is. The secret to success is in the amount of file folders you care around with you. Jeno shakes himself, he really needs to hydrate. Being hungover was making him dumber than usual. 

“Numbers are up,” Chenle starts, “For both foot traffic and revenue. Which is good. Good job with managing the amount of customers and juggling the staff’s schedules appropriately.” 

Jeno nods dumbly, sipping at his coffee as if it may secretly hold the magic cure-all for a hangover. He knows it doesn’t but maybe it will this time. 

“But I had a contact let me know that this is being circulated online,” and with that he flips over a blurry photo with a figure with a cap on. The cap has been circled in red and Jeno doesn’t even need to see the next picture to know that it’s Donghyuck. He’d recognize that cap anywhere considering Donghyuck wears it every time he is in the shop. Jeno’s stomach drops. 

“I’ve heard this is a big pop singer of some sort, I’m not sure,” Chenle says, oblivious to his reaction and apparently of all pop culture. 

“I know, he’s been coming around for a few weeks now.” Jeno says with numb lips. 

“Well, I’m going to ignore that potential PR campaign loss,” Chenle says mildly but Jeno can already see his yearly bonus dwindling in his eyes, “Because there’s also this picture.” 

The next is Jaemin. Handsome and charming and smiling in his bar, leaning over the counter to beam at him. 

Oh. And that’s him that Jaemin is grinning at. His face in it’s full glory. In a picture with Lee Jaemin. 

“My press contact promised me they’d blur out your face,” Chenle says with a lot more calm than Jeno currently feels and he frantically tries to seek steady mental purchase. “It’s more likely they are going to go with the bigger scandal of male celebrity on celebrity action than a commoner even if you are a man.” 

Jeno really wants the ground to open up and swallow him whole. 

“Do you need to take a few days?” Chenle asks, cutting straight to it. 

“Do I need to?” Jeno asks, unsure what this photographic proof should mean to him and how it will affect his life. Blurred face or no. 

Chenle shrugs, “No, but you’ll need to be careful and diligent.” 

Jeno nods. 

“I’m not going to stop the paps from swarming here though, it’ll only bring up business so I just need your assurance you can handle this.” Chenle says and Jeno so appreciates the way that he can talk about this very personal matter in a way that leaves only the business to discuss. This talk is not shaming or insulting. He’s being treated like an adult. 

Jeno just wishes the same could be said of the two celebrities that now frequent his shop. He can’t imagine this blowing up in any particularly good way for anyone. 

“Yes,” Jeno answers honestly. 

“Good,” Chenle says with a small smile, “I trust you.” 

And that feels amazing to hear. He wants to show Chenle and everyone involved all that he can be trusted with this- Well, this shitstorm. 

He’ll do this best to protect the shop. 

\-----

But Jeno feels like shit. Whatever bullshit Renjun told him about creating a safe place for Donghyuck and Jaemin to figure out their shit, he has failed spectacularly at it. The two of them haven’t even had a face to face interaction and their pictures were pasted all over the internet. 

He hasn’t even had much time to think about it. The news broke out a few days ago and the restaurant has been a madhouse ever since. He thought the crowd excited about the drama was bad, this was ten times worse, not to mention there was always about ten people with obnoxious cameras outside the shop front. He doesn’t think they’re reporters even, they look like just fans. And that’s creepy. It gives Jeno a sense of being constantly watched. It’s unnerving and he can’t even imagine what it was like for Jaemin or Donghyuck to deal with this madness daily. 

Worst of all, he hasn’t seen either of them since the news hit. The press didn’t run with the homoerotic story Jeno thought they would, they’ve mainly just presented the photo evidence and let the netizens have their hay day in the comment sections. 

He doesn’t know how to reach out to them, to apologize for what happened. Not once during one of their many shop visits did he ask for a phone number or kako ID. He didn’t want to seem like the was coasting on their celebrity by getting that information. Why would he when he was so much happier being able to talk to them in the shop. In person. That was so much more valuable to him than having their numbers. 

But now it means that he has no way of contacting either of them. And so he wonders about them endlessly. Taking care of his busy shop takes up almost all of his brain power, but the rest of it, he pours into positive thoughts for those two. Jeno even thinks his unconscious is constantly thinking about them and if they are okay. 

And he hopes he can see them again soon, somehow. 

\-----

“Jeno,” Renjun calls for him, having lost his will to hold his grudge when they’ve all been swamped at work every day. Jeno is secretly grateful for it, he’s not sure if he could handle the business of the shop and that image of him laughing at something Jaemin says in the paparazzi photo without his rock. 

But right now, he’s working on two coffee orders and three alcoholic ones, and has yet to put a food order and so he says, “Not right now, Renjun.” 

“You are going to want to see this,” he insists, coming up to look at this queue, “Finish up what you are working on and I’ll do the rest.” 

That strikes Jeno as odd, Renjun is always there to help in a real pinch but him giving up his grudge despite being dropped comes out in different ways. Like having to fend for himself when the shop is busy enough for him to deal with it on his own. He throws Renjun a confused look as his hands continue to move as fast as he can without knocking anything over. 

“Let’s just say, a little mouse snuck in.” Renjun says gently bumping him to the side when his finished drinks are on the counter. 

“Call me if you-” Jeno starts to protest and Renjun rolls his eyes. 

“Just go already, I can handle this. Go and quickly come back.” And it’s an order so Jeno obeys. Heaven forbid he make Renjun any more angry at him, he wouldn’t be able to stand it. 

“He-yo~” Jaemin greets him brightly in the breakroom and Jeno swears that his eyes go as round as saucers. 

“What are you doing here?” Jeno asks with slight panic, thinking about all the customers who are so eager to catch even just a glimpse of him or Donghyuck here that are currently flooding the shop just a wall away. 

“I can’t go too long without my favorite barista, now can I?” Jaemin asks, smiling but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes, “This is also the only place that has promised me to never play the break up song written about me.” 

Jeno plops down at the seat next to him, his eyes still wide. 

“I’m so sorry,” is the first thing he says. Because it is what deserves to be said first. 

Jaemin laughs. It wouldn’t strike him as an odd reaction before but in this moment, it feels like deflection. 

“For what? Making a good americano?” Jaemin asks, falling easily in line with the deflection theory. 

But the question is fair. When he searches for an answer he doesn’t really have one. But he still feels like he should clear up one thing that is laying heavily on his chest as he wallows in guilt. 

“I didn’t tell anyone about you coming to the cafe, I swear.” Jeno promises sincerely. “No press, not even my boss.” 

Jaemin seems to go positively liquid at that, slumping in his seat and putting his head on the table. He keeps his eyes closed and then opens them to look at him with impossibly soft eyes. 

“I know,” he says. Jeno believes that he does. 

Almost childishly, Jaemin reaches for his sleeve and holds on to it. He doesn’t tug or pull, it feels like he just wants to have some sort of contact with Jeno. He is afraid to move, selfishly wanting to keep their connect, childish or not. 

“Are you okay?” he can’t help but to ask. Jaemin huffs a laugh. 

“You are the first person to ask me that I really believe is asking me that genuinely,” he confesses in a low tone that Jeno has never heard from the usually bright man. Concern for Jaemin burns through his chest as he waits for an answer. 

“No,” he says with a quiet honesty. Pain flares strongly at his words and immediately falls back into problem solver mode. 

“Can I help?” He asks sincerely, “Anything I can do, I will.” 

Jaemin closes his eyes again and the smile that graces his lips feels a bit more real. 

“Just stay, that’s all I ask.” 

And so he does. 

They sit there in a comfortable silence as Jeno tries to imagine what it would be like to have his private life, including where he goes for coffee spread all over the internet. Ultimately, he is unable to imagine it. 

He also considers what his shop means to Jaemin, not once as he met up with Donghyuck here despite all of the speculation about using the shop as a secret lovers getaway, and yet he still came back. Time and time again. 

After about twenty minutes or so, Jisung interrupts them with a wince and Jeno knows that he must in over his head at the front of house for him to interrupt this moment. It’s likely Renjun sent him back here to pull him back out. 

He sends Jaemin off with an americano to go and at the last moment he decides on a hug as well. Jaemin is built, his shoulders strong and wide, but he turns soft as marshmellows when he envelopes him in his arms, tucking his head into his shoulder. 

“Thanks,” Jaemin says with a sad smile. Sounding a bit broken. 

He leaves with Jeno feeling like he didn’t do quite enough. 

\----

Donghyuck surprises him by sneaking in the back after they’ve closed the cafe, he was counting the till alone when he comes in and scares the shit out of Jeno again. In a contradiction to how Jaemin came to see him, he looks absolutely livid. 

“Want to get wasted with me?” he asks gruffly. Jeno had a hard day himself, feeling a bit off and a persistent headache plaguing him. He finds himself agreeing easily. 

“What the _fuck_ is wrong with being gay?” Donghyuck says after a few drinks, sloshing the one currently in his hands, well on the other side of tipsy, Jeno selfishly enjoys seeing him blushed and open like this, “If I like men does that mean I somehow lose the ability to produce good songs?” 

“Hell no,” Jeno says firmly, getting angry himself at arguments he’s had with himself for years. Spurred on, Donghyuck continues. 

“Well guess what random online people? Guess what staff members who have known me since debut- I’ve been gay this whole time!” He enunciates with banging his glass on the counter and then knocking the rest of it back down his throat. Impressed, Jeno instinctively grabs the soju bottle and fills his glass back up again, secretly hoping to see it again. 

“Wow,” Donghyuck says suddenly, excitedly looking into his eyes, hands already back on his glass, “I think that’s the first time I’ve said that outloud.” 

“Say it again,” Jeno drunk enough to dare him. 

“I’m gay!” Donghyuck shouts and Jeno isn’t sure if he is projecting but he sounds proud as he flings his arms out, tilting his head back to really put power behind his voice. It’s loud and echoes through the shop, he supposes that is the true evidence of a singers lungs ability. They pause until the echo fades and then collapses into a fit of giggles. 

They heave breathes in between fits of laughter and there is a moment of silence before Donghyuck speaks up, a bit timidly. 

“ _You_ don’t think that because I’m gay I can’t make music any more do you?” He sounds so vulnerable that Jeno’s heart aches for him. And he gets it, when he came out he had basically everyone he knew exile him from their lives. Including his own parents. And he’s just a normal guy. The amount of pressure Donghyuck is under must be unbearable. 

“I think what you have to say in your music is much more important that what gender it’s directed to or what gender writes it,” he says before embarrassment nips at him, he feels like he said something that is weirdly poetic but not because he was drunk but he’s worried it may have just come out sounding lame so he tries to play it off with a joke, “Beside, I would be a hypocrite if I thought that being gay somehow made you inept.” 

The sad look wipes off of Donghyuck’s face and his eyes go round. 

“Huh?” He asks and oh, god he feels so bad for Donghyuck. 

“Did you not know, that I’m gay?” Jeno asks, stunned. Donghyuck seems too embarrassed to reply so he continues incredulously, “You were just confessing all of this to a straight person?” 

Donghyuck’s non-answer is an answer as he looks down at his hands, his face turning red. 

Jeno laughs, “Oh god, I haven’t been taken as straight in _years_.” 

“It’s not like I have many out people in my life!” Donghyuck protests hotly. That stops Jeno short, his laughter cutting off quickly. He suddenly feels so lonely for that young boy who had to grow up in an environment where he probably constantly felt alone. And Donghyuck clearly trusts him enough that he was willing to be that honest with him when he thought he was straight. 

“Sorry,” he apologizes quickly. That quietens the mood. 

“No,” Donghyuck says a bit gently, “I chose this life, the celebrity life, even after I discovered who I like.” 

“But that doesn’t mean that it has to be this way,” Jeno says, feeling a familiar speech come to his lips, almost feeling worn with how many times he has used them, “I wish South Korea was more welcoming to the LBGT community, especially for our celebrities. There are young kids out there need role models and to know they are loved and accepted. No matter what their sexuality.” 

“Yes,” Donghyuck agrees. There is something about his tone that has him looking over at Donghyuck. 

He’s watching Jeno with guarded eyes. His fingers are slowly spinning the soju glass in his hands but his gaze doesn’t waver. 

“What?” Jeno can’t help but to ask, wondering if he said something wrong. He overall feels pretty confident about his speech but the way Donghyuck is looking at him makes the doubt creep up. 

“I was just wondering what it would’ve been like to have you as a friend when I was a trainee, would have my life ended up differently?” He asks in a fragile tone. Jeno’s heart beats loudly in his chest and, stupid as ever, he lets the liquor give him the courage. 

“Why? Would you have had a crush on me back then?” He teases, wanting to lighten the mood. 

“You wish!” Donghyuck protests but his cheeks flush red hot. He tries to distract him by finishing his glass of soju but Jeno is on this like nothing he’s ever felt before. 

“Oh my god,” Jeno says as it scarily easily clicks into place for him, gasping “You totally had a crush on a fellow trainee!” 

Donghyuck’s fiercer flush spurs him on. 

“Oh my god, this is what fanfics are made of,” Jeno says in absolute disbelief. 

“No! It’s not like that,” he trails off, eyes dipping down to his hands again, he continues in the softest voices he’s ever heard, nothing even compared to his ballads, “Jaemin.” 

Suddenly Jeno realizes that Jaemin and Donghyuck were trainees at the same company together and then it’s like the last puzzle piece falls into place. 

“Oh,” he says dumbly. 

Donghyuck’s gaze gets soft and impossibly sad, Jeno can feel his heart clutch in sympathy. 

“It’s always been Jaemin,” he says brokenly. 

Jeno bites his tongue and takes a shot to keep his emotions in check. 

\------

Jeno is very much looking forward to confide everything to Renjun the next day only when he gets to the shop the next morning, he finds it’s still locked. Confused, he takes out his own set of keys and opens up the shop. He walks to the schedule pinned on their break room wall to confirm and yes, Renjun and he were both supposed to open today. 

As fate would have it, his phone rings and he takes it out. Renjun’s name stares back at him. 

“Hi,” Renjun’s sounds rushed, “Sitter fell through and I’m running late, can I bring the brat in?” 

“Always,” Jeno says, surprised, he thought they had covered this already. “You know that he’s always welcome.” 

A pleased huff echoes through the line and Renjun earnestly says, “Thanks.” 

“Tell him Uncle Jeno will make him his favorite drink when he gets here.” Jeno says proudly as he shoves the phone between his ear and shoulder so he can have both hands to turn on their computers at the register. 

“Only if he behaves,” Renjun’s says firmly, Jeno can practically hear the daddy tone in his voice before it melts away, “Sorry I’m late, I promise I’ll be there in a jiffy.” 

“Do what you need to do, I’ve got your back,” Jeno says brightly, “But let me go so I can open the shop before you get here.” 

They hang up and Jeno smiles brightly even though he only has the company of himself. He always looks forward to when Sicheng comes around the shop. He busies himself with turning on the lights and turning on the espresso machine, turning the oven on to warm up, that he barely notices when someone comes into the shop. 

He turns around and there is just someone there, he yelps in surprise. 

“Can I help you?” He says. 

“Ah, I thought you were open,” the man says with a toothy grin, “The front door was open.” 

“Oh, well,” Jeno says, a bit flustered, “I mean technically we open in 20 minutes but can I help you now if you need.” 

“Oh great,” He says smoothly but his grin seems mismatched with the tone. He swings himself onto a bar stool with more grace than Jeno has seen anyone do it, “I’m looking for someone.” 

“Uhhh…” Jeno says, dumbfounded. He does know this is a cafe and not the police station, right? 

“I’ve heard that a certain someone frequents this shop because of a new friend he’s made.” The man continues, his eyes glinting like he’s trying to convey another message just by looking at him with his large eyes. 

Suddenly, Jeno thinks of Jaemin and Donghyuck. 

Oh no, that’s not how this is going to play out. 

“I don’t think I know who you are talking about,” Jeno says stiffly. 

“I’m sure you do,” the man says confidently. 

“I don’t,” Jeno says firmly, he can’t even bring himself to smile at this nosey bastard “I do, however, know how to make a good coffee. Would you like anything?” 

“Just tell me if he’s here or not,” the man says, leaning back to cross his arms. Jeno feels his head swim as anger floods through him, he blinks through it, trying to see past the red. 

Of course that’s when Renjun stumbles into the shop, kid in tow. He freezes at the tenseness and Jeno can see him trying to gauge the atmosphere, eyes darting between them. Sicheng is at his knee, clutching onto his pant leg and peering around to watch them with wide eyes. 

“Sir,” he forces himself to be polite, “If you are not interested in buying any of our goods, I will have to ask you to leave.” 

The man takes a moment to sigh and pull out his wallet. Jeno can feel himself bristle but all the man does is take out a business card and leave it on the table. 

“Call me if you find him,” he says before turning on his heel and leaving the shop. 

“What was that about?” Renjun asks, picking up his son and holding him. 

“Someone after our little mouse problem,” Jeno says, referencing the nickname Renjun used last time Jaemin came in. 

“Press? A reporter, maybe?” Renjun guesses, automatically on the same page way that only best friends can be. Sicheng, being the loveable kid Renjun has raised him to be, giggles and breaks any of the lingering tension. He wiggles and reaches for Jeno. 

Jeno’s heart bursts with happiness as he comes around the bar to take Sicheng from him. 

“You missed your uncle, huh?” Jeno coos, giving him some obnoxious kisses. Sicheng laughs in delight before playfully pushing his face away. That only gives him more motivation to give him even more kisses. 

“Stop it!” He squeals, but pouting at him when he actually does. 

“Are you sure?” Renjun interrupts them and it takes a moment for Jeno to know what he is talking about. He looks and Renjun is holding the business card the man left behind. 

“Throw it away,” Jeno says protectively. Only for Sicheng to poke his cheek. Having a two year old on your hip significantly lowers the cool aura he’s trying to portray. 

“But it says he’s a manager,” Renjun says, adding, “Jaemin’s manager.” 

“Oh,” Jeno says, caught off-guard, “Well.” 

“What did he want exactly?” Renjun asks. Sicheng squirms and so he sets him down carefully. He runs up to his dad and tries to climb on the bar stool next to him. 

“He said he wanted to find someone,” Jeno says. 

“Maybe his star?” Renjun asks, turning to look at him with a raised eyebrow. 

“Ah,” Jeno says, his heart starting to race. Did that mean that Jaemin was missing? He thinks of the last time he saw him and remembers how upset he seemed. A headache blooms behind his eyes as he is flooded with worry, he turns to Renjun with a plea for help in his eyes. 

“Sicheng, baby?” Renjun says softly, turning to his toddler, “Do you want to grab your coloring things from the back room.” 

“Yes, daddy,” he says in English, talented multilingual child that he is, already sliding himself off the bar stool. 

“Do you remember where they are?” Renjun asks firmly, catching Sicheng’s attention before he can run away excitedly to the back to get into who knows what. Mischief. 

“Yes!” Is the excited response and the toddler is gone in a blink of an eye. 

“Want me to cover the shop for you?” Renjun asks Jeno, his eye serious. 

“What am I supposed to do, run around Seoul looking for him?” Jeno asks tiredly, “I still don’t even have his number.” 

“But you are going to be thinking about this all day if you don’t try and do something,” Renjun protests. “And you are not useful to me when you can’t concentrate.” 

“Daddy!” Sicheng calls from the back room. 

Renjun calls back, “One second, baby.” 

“You are right, but it’s also dumb for me to go on a wild goose chase with nothing to go on but some weird strong connection I have with a complete stranger.” Jeno says, throwing his hands up. 

“Daddy!” Sicheng yells a bit louder this time. Renjun sighs but Jeno can’t help but to find it endearing. 

“Go be a dad,” Jeno encourages. Renjun is about to turn to do so when they are both put on high alert by Sicheng’s voice again. 

“Daddy, do you know this man back here?” He asks. Jeno and Renjun look at each other in horror before they both sprint to the door. Jeno, with his long legs, makes it first and wrenches open the door to see Jaemin trying to shush the wee toddler who is looking at him with an unimpressed expression. 

Jeno freezes at the doorway and Renjun basically runs into the back of him. 

“Hey,” Renjun says to him crossly, upset at running into his back as peers over his shoulder to see what Jeno can. 

“Hi?” Jaemin says with a sheepish grin. 

Jeno’s heart squeezes with relief and he says softly back, “Hi.” 

“Oh, for god’s sake,” Renjun says before turning on his heel, “Excuse me while I go do something productive.” 

Jeno can hear him muttering up a storm as crouches down and encompasses Sicheng in his arms. The toddler leans back in that overly trusting way that only kids can do and leans his head on his shoulder. And Jeno is so thankful for him along with the singer who is watching them with soft eyes. 

“Sicheng, this is your uncle’s friend, Jaemin,” he says with a calm tone but his eyes crinkle with happiness. 

“Nice to meet you, Sicheng,” Jaemin says meeting the kid’s eyes and grinning at him. Jeno can feel Sicheng practically melt under his gaze. He’d laugh if he wasn’t the exact same way. 

“Hi,” Sicheng says, somewhat shyly, his thumb naturally coming up to his mouth before he catches himself. 

“How do we greet, Sicheng?” Jeno presses gently. Sicheng straightens up a bit so that he can bow formally, his hands over his belly button. 

“Pleased to meet you, Uncle Jaemin,” he says in a practiced voice and it’s so cute Jeno is too busy cooing at him to realize the actor is doing the same. 

“Cute~” Jaemin says, reaching out to pinch the kids cheek. Sicheng giggles and wiggles out from between them to run off to, most likely, find his dad and hide behind him. 

“That is the cutest kid!” Jaemin exclaims, they both still crouched down, his eyes sparkling happily. 

“I’m still not sure how such a pure kid came from Renjun,” Jeno jokes, sure that his face will crack with how wide his smile is. 

“Trying to sneak in?” Jeno asks him, wondering at the actors presence. 

“Something like that,” Jaemin says vaguely, “Mainly, I really want an americano and didn’t want to be seen by the press.” 

Jeno laughs, “Fair enough.” 

He straightens up and offers his hand to Jaemin. He gets a searching look before Jaemin takes his hand and lets him pull him to his feet. His hand is a bit rough but large and Jeno feels it’s a bit of a shame when the moment passes and Jaemin’s hand slips out of his own. 

Jaemin smiles at him and his heart flutters in his chest. 

“I’ll be right back with an americano,” Jeno says, slightly out of breath. He gestures at the break room and suggests, “Make yourself comfortable.” 

“Don’t be too long, I’ll get lonely,” Jaemin teases. 

“I won’t,” Jeno promises. 

When he goes back to the break room, a large iced americano in hand, Jaemin clearly didn’t miss him too much considering Sicheng has crawled up onto his lap and made himself at home. A coloring book on the table in front of them and crayons everywhere, Sicheng has tilted up so he can gaze up at Jaemin as he carefully colors in a red flower. 

“You don’t seem too lonely,” Jeno can’t help but to tease. 

A smile plays at the corner of Jaemin’s lips and he gives him a meaningful look that has Jeno’s heart skipping in its place. 

When he goes back to front of house with a smile on his face, Renjun gives him an unenthused stare. 

“You have a dumb look on your face,” he says dryly, adding, “Will I ever get my son back from the clutches of Jaemin’s charm?” 

“Doubtful, apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree,” Jeno says around a wide grin. Renjun groans and throws a washcloth at him. 

His delighted laugh collapses into a light cough and a painful groan. Renjun gives him a look. 

“If you are sick, don’t go near my son,” Renjun warns. 

“I’m not sick,” Jeno waves off, “I never get sick.” 

There’s a muttering of tempting fate but, per usual, Jeno ignores him. 

The usual rush of customers comes and Jeno doesn’t have a single moment to think about Jaemin until he starts to restock the bar after the shop quietens down. He throws open the door and freezes when he sees Jaemin silently shushing him. Sicheng is tucked into his chest and fast asleep. 

Jeno has to bite his lip from letting out an ungodly squeal at how cute they look. 

“The perfect hiding place for an actor is in the backroom of a restaurant with a kid on their lap, huh?” He teases after he gets himself into a state where he can control the tone of his voice. His phone weighs heavily in his pocket, “Are you going to be mad if I take a pic of this?” 

Jaemin shakes his head and when Jeno reaches into his pocket to get his phone, the business card of the man from earlier falls out. They both watch it flutter to the ground and Jaemin gives him a searching look. 

“Someone came looking for you earlier,” Jeno says in a hushed whisper, the picture long forgotten. 

“Who?” Jaemin asks, his whole face darkening. In all of the times Jeno has seen Jaemin come into his shop, he hasn’t seen such a serious expression on his face. Jeno isn’t actually sure so he takes a glance at the card. 

“Yuta?” He says uncertainly. A strange name for a Korean. The actor groans before he remembers the toddler sleeping on his lap and freezes to keep the toddler from moving a hair. 

“He’s always in my business,” Jaemin says as carefully as he can before a long sigh that does actually make Sicheng shift a bit, “But if he came here then it’s probably pretty serious.” 

Jeno nods before he suddenly sneezes. It’s unexpected and loud enough to startle Sicheng awake. 

Sicheng opens heavy eyes to frown hard at Jeno. 

“Gross.” He decrees with a single word. 

Jaemin laughs and Jeno pouts at them both. 

The kid takes some convincing to let Jaemin go, his father has to come in and give him a look before he stops tearing up enough to let the actor out of his grip but then he’s on his way with just promise to come back soon. 

“And I’ll bring you some more things to draw with,” Jaemin promises Sicheng, sealed with a pinky swear. Sicheng blushes and Jaemin winks at Jeno and Renjun before he’s gone. 

“You are so fucked,” Renjun states. 

“I know,” Jeno says his heart racing. 

“Ooh~ Daddy said a bad word!” Sicheng says with far too much delight. 

“I’m firing your babysitter,” Renjun says with a frown. Jeno laughs heartily. 

\----

Sure enough, true to Renjun’s prediction, Jeno wakes up the next morning feeling absolutely awful. 

“God, don’t come anywhere near the store,” Renjun says after Jeno calls him that morning. 

“I don’t think it’s that bad,” he protests with a hoarse voice. 

“Can you even hear yourself?” Renjun asks in disbelief, “No, you are not coming anywhere near me or the kid until you don’t sound like you’ve been smoking for 10 years.” 

“Maybe I have,” Jeno says with a pout. 

“Ha, you are too much of a goody-two shoes,” Renjun easily shoots down and, being the amazing best friend he is, hangs up on him. 

He’s still frowning at his phone when it lights up from a text from Renjun. 

**I’m serious, no shop until you go to the doc.**

Jeno groans and flops back onto his bed. He’s really not sick, he never gets a cold. He hasn’t had the flu since he was in junior high and hasn’t had to go to the doctor ever since. 

But he also knows better than to go against Renjun’s wishes. And his head really does hurt so maybe he’ll just hang out here for the rest of the day. No need for a doc, just some rest and he’ll feel right as rain. 

He’s asleep before he can even think of what he should do with his day. 

When he wakes again, he’s not sure how long he’s been asleep but the world outside his window is dark. The first conscious breath he takes is painful and he immediately has a coughing fit. The coughing makes him groan unhappily as it causes his sore throat to pound uncomfortably. Despite it being dark in his room, a headache blooms behind his eyes and he stuffs his head under his pillow as if that would help. 

Okay, maybe he might have a cold. 

He lets himself have a moment to just bask in how shitty he feels. His whole body feels like it’s on fire but somehow he’s also shivering and digging under the rest of the covers. Idly, he knows that he should probably get up and take medicine or get something to drink but his overall desire to just sit here and lay in his miserable-ness is too much to ignore. 

What he hates most of all is the smug look Renjun is going to give him when he comes over to take care of him. 

Reaching out to grab his phone somehow feels like he can feel every nerve from his shoulder down to his wrist and it burns in protest to him moving at all. He gives up half way to the nightstand and lets his arm flop to the bed. Taking a moment to cough and sniff his running nose, Jeno groans and steadies himself before finally making it the last bit to grab his phone. 

**Please don’t say I told you so.** He texts. As he waits for a response, he decides to close his eyes, just to regain the energy that seems to have been sucked from him and he’s asleep again before he’s even cognizant of it. 

He wakes to his front door ringing. A cough racks his body before he’s even fully aware that it’s his doorbell and not something in a fever dream. The thought of actually getting up from his bed is painful and so he closes his eyes and wishes that it’ll just go away. 

It doesn’t. 

With a sob, Jeno starts to make his move into sitting up. He has to grit his teeth to do it but he’s insanely proud of himself when does. Getting to his front door seems like a blur but before he knows it, he’s there too and he’s not sure if the door bell has been ringing anymore times because it took all of his focus just to get there. Slumping on the wall, he finally opens the door. 

He full expects it to be Renjun. Who else would it be? But when he opens the door, Donghyuck’s annoyed expression is there to greet him. 

“God, finally, I was starting to think-,” is the haughty intro but Donghyuck catches a look of him and his jaw drops. “Wow, you look like shit.” 

Jeno coughs when he tries to respond. He didn’t have a quick response but he wanted to say hi anyways. The cough doesn’t die down, instead racking his body painfully. 

Warm hands touch his shoulders and he flinches away because everything feels a bit too much right now, but Donghyuck is persistent and in less than a moment he’s grateful for their warmth when they gently guide him backwards. 

“Holy fuck,” he hears Donghyuck say before, “I don’t think your short friend knew you were this sick.” 

A laugh turns into another cough and he’s gently guided down onto the couch. His chest hurts and he can taste whatever has been expelled from his lungs and its so gross and frankly he feels a bit embarrassed that this super famous person is in his living room to watch it all happen. 

“Why are you here?” He is finally able to get out, tears in his eyes from how hard he has been coughing. 

“I’m making you tea,” Donghyuck says, completely ignoring him. He can hear him rattle through a few cabinets before he exasperatedly shouts, “Why is everything here in a weird place!” 

Jeno would laugh at him if he had the energy and it wouldn’t send him into another coughing fit. 

“By the kettle,” he rasps out instead, mad when even that causes him to start coughing again. 

“What the fuck, you need a doctor,” Donghyuck says angrily when he hears his cough and, if Jeno knows any better, a bit of concern as well, “That and someone to organize your fucking kitchen.” 

Jeno closes his eyes, far too worn out to even respond. When he opens them, he sees that Donghyuck has taken a seat on the couch next to him and is carefully touching his shoulder. He must’ve dozed off again. 

“Jeno,” he calls softly in a high tone and it’s so lovely he could close his eyes again, “C’mon, don’t sleep on me again. You need fluids and medicine.” 

He makes himself crack his eyes open again and sees that Donghyuck is holding a cup for him. 

“I really want to go back to my bed,” he whines. 

“I know,” Donghyuck soothes him, even rubbing one of his hands over his chest as if that would help relieve the hoarseness. It does warm him to his toes and he shivers slightly, “After you finish a cup.” 

Jeno groans and struggles to sit up. Being a surprisingly gracious person, Donghyuck helps him sit up and even holds his tea cup steady and brings it to his lips. 

“You are being too nice,” Jeno says after he downs more than half of the mug. 

“Don’t get used to it,” Donghyuck grunts, holding him up for the second half. He drinks it gratefully and basically falls back when he loses his energy to stay sitting. 

“I haven’t even seen Jaemin in this condition,” Donghyuck mutters as he carefully brushes Jeno’s sweaty bangs from his forehead. He feels his heart skip a beat despite his body being in the horrible condition it’s in. 

“Bed,” he groans, physically unable to process anything more. Donghyuck’s eyes soften but he is still able to roll them. 

“Yes, your highness,” he says before helping Jeno get up. The entire way back to his bed, he wonders when this spoiled prince decided he was the spoiled one of them two of them but can’t come up with a good answer before he’s lowered back down unto his bed. 

He moans and sinks into his mattress. It’s been far too long since he has needed to replace it, but in the middle of his fever, his mattress feels silky soft and he falls into its embrace gratefully. His eyes slip closed before he’s shaken back awake. 

“No sleep until you have meds,” Donghyuck says sternly. He’s mesmerized about how this idol is in his flat and how on earth he knows where he lives let alone knows how to take care of him when he’s the weakest he’s been in years. 

“Bathroom,” he croaks, trying to keep his eyes open but he’s not sure he succeeds. He swears his eyes are open as he sees Donghyuck go to his bathroom, then he blinks, and suddenly Donghyuck is back with a mysteriously filled glass of water and some medication. When did he have time to do that? 

“You could poison me,” Jeno says suddenly before he obediently swallows down the pills he is handed. 

“I appreciate how cunning you think i could be,” Donghyuck says, sounding tired, “But I’m not going to kill you.” 

“Okay,” Jeno says easily. Honestly, Donghyuck could’ve said anything and he would’ve agreed to it, he’s just so tired. 

He doesn’t know anything else until he wakes to dawn touching the ceiling of his bedroom, streaking softly through his windows. Groaning, he takes stock of everything that hurts (throat, chest, head, basically everything) but then he realizes he didn’t naturally wake up. Raised voices float into his room and he squeezes his eyes closed again. 

This is definitely not what he had anticipated their reunion being like. He thinks instinctually, not even sure if he is fully awake or not. 

“Fuck off,” he hears Donghyuck growl and Jeno takes a deep breath, wishing he had the energy to interrupt. 

There are raised voices before his bedroom door opens and he just keeps his eyes closed. 

“Please don’t fight in my house,” he pleads, not even really sure that what he is hearing is his own fever delusion or real life. Silence falls after he says that and then soft hands help him sit up. 

“Medicine,” a voice says and he swears it’s Jaemin before he, again, obediently swallows the pills he is given. The water is cool and fresh and he sinks back into his sheets and is asleep before he can muster energy for any other thoughts. 

When he wakes again, someone is holding him when he sleeps. He sniffs his runny nose and looks over and sees Jaemin asleep next time. He blinks once. Twice. Decides it’s far too weird to be real before he closes his eyes and goes back to sleep. 

“You need to eat,” a voice wakes him up. He’s shaken gently and he blinks his eyes open to Donghyuck who is crossing his arms and looking generally annoyed. Not that looking annoying is any different than his usual look. He’s more confused now because he swears Jaemin was here. 

“C’mon, you can do it,” Jaemin says on his other side, rubbing a hand up his back to help him sit up. 

“This is really weird,” he comments as he is set back on his pillows, propped up against his pillows. Donghyuck is putting a cup of tea in his hands and Jaemin slouches an arm around his waist and rests his head on his shoulder. 

“Not as weird as what I’m going to do with you if you don’t finish that,” Donghyuck says shortly before leaving the room again. 

Jeno raises an eyebrow and takes a sip of his tea, it’s soothing all the way down his sore throat. 

“Is he-” Jeno starts, searching for the end of his sentence. 

“Always like that, yes,” Jaemin says and it feels like he’s being overly careful with his tone, making it even. 

“This is really weird,” he sums up again and Jaemin just snorts. 

“ _You_ think its weird? You aren’t sharing the bed of a cute waiter you’ve been hitting on for months now after showing up to take care of him while he’s sick only to find your secret ex-boyfriend already here,” Jaemin deadpans. 

Jeno doesn’t have much of a response to that and so he takes a long drink of his tea. He almost finishes when he starts to cough again, warm hands take the mug from him. 

“Just breathe through it,” Jaemin guides, reaching around him to put the mug on his nightstand before rubbing large circles on his chest. It doesn’t stop Jeno from coughing but it is soothing as he body tenses uncomfortably. 

“I feel like shit,” Jeno wheezes. 

“You look like shit too,” Donghyuck reenters the room, hands on a medium sized bowl. Jeno is frowning at him even when he sets a delicious smelling soup in his lap. He somehow is able to smell it through all of his blockage. 

“Where did you get that?” Jaemin asks with a bit of awe. 

“I made it,” Donghyuck replies stiffly. Meanwhile, Jeno takes a spoonful of soup. 

“It’s amazing,” Jeno says before digging in. 

“You’ve never made me any food,” Jaemin says with a sour tone. 

“Are you kidding me?” Donghyuck huffs, throwing his hands up. “Not everything revolves around you, Jaemin.” 

Jeno can feel Jaemin tense up beside him and before any more words can be said, he interrupts firmly. 

“No, not in my home.” The two men start to protest but Jeno shakes his head, “I don’t know what happened between the two of you and frankly I’m too sick to care, but no fighting in my house.” 

“Well, you missed the biggest fight when you were asleep,” Donghyuck mutters. 

Jeno sighs and returns to his soup, “How did you guys get here anyways?” 

“Renjun,” they say simultaneously, then seem annoyed they are so in-sync, shooting glares at each other. 

“I believe his exact words were to ‘get the fuck out and go annoy Jeno before I call the press on you myself” Jaemin says somewhat amusedly. It’s so like Renjun that Jaemin doesn’t even need to ask if it’s true. Instead he sighs. 

“What? Two celebrities isn’t enough to wait on you, your majesty?” Donghyuck snipes as he perches on the edge of the bed. Jaemin basically bristles. 

“Leave him alone when he’s this sick,” he admonishes. “I don’t understand why you have to be mean all of the time.” 

Donghyuck is quick with a response and Jeno looks to the ceiling as if the answer to the secret of patience will be waiting there. He puts a hand on Jaemin’s thigh and gives Donghyuck a meaningful look that has him rolling his eyes but shutting his yap. 

“He doesn’t mean it, it’s okay,” Jeno says, ending the sentence with a cough. He can feel the actor soften at the reminder of how sick he really is, he continues with only a slight wheeze, “You don’t need to stand up for me, I can defend myself if I need.” 

Jaemin sits up so that he can throw the cutest pout his way and it’s really not fair for a grown man to be that cute. 

“And quit egging it on just because you are nervous,” Jeno says to Donghyuck who turns just the tiniest bit pink. Jaemin blinks as if the notion had never even occurred to him which only makes Jeno ache in his chest that has nothing to do with being sick. 

These two are in the same room and they can’t even understand each other, he can only imagine what type of unhealthy communication they had in their relationship, but- 

“Now, I need you both to kindly leave,” he says as he pushes his empty bowl towards Donghyuck who looks at him with wide eyes, “I appreciate you both but I am very sick and I want nothing more than to sleep.” 

And I don’t have the energy to unravel your relationship knots right now, he doesn’t say. But he carefully doesn’t think about how ‘yet’ is easily tacked on. 

Thankfully they are easy to push out of his bed so he can lay out and he asks them to let themselves out. When they leave his bedroom, he closes his eyes and thinks that is it. 

But with those two, he should’ve known it wouldn’t be that simple. 

Somehow coming to an agreement between themselves, either Donghyuck or Jaemin are in his house every time he wakes up between various naps. It doesn’t matter who it is, they have food, liquids, medicine, and whatever else he could possibly want. 

“How are you here?” He asks wearily when Donghyuck is feeling his forehead for a temperature. 

“Easy, I drove here,” he says, taking his answer at face-value. 

Annoyed, Jeno’s quick retort is cut off by coughing, “Don’t you have work or something to do?” 

“Not much to do when I’ve been put on official lock down by my company,” Donghyuck says with a bit of hate before humming thoughtfully, “Still a fever I think, I’ll go get some more anti-inflammatory medicine.” 

Jeno watches him go into his bathroom and his heart clutches in sympathy. He’s got so much going on in his life and yet he still is finding the time to look after him when he is the grossest he has ever been. 

Pulling his covers over his head, he feels a clashing mix of shame and a warmth that can only come from realizing that someone likes you enough to take care of you. It’s an odd combination that Jeno tries to swallow down before Donghyuck comes back so he can plaster on his best smile. He’s not sure he succeeds but Donghyuck smiles softly at him and that makes everything else melt away. 

\-----

“You cannot go back to work,” Jaemin says with a shake of his head. 

“It’s been five days! I can’t leave the shop for that long, I’m responsible for it!” Jeno protests as he pulls on his shirt. His argument is sullied when he breaks into a coughing fit. He turns and Jaemin is looking at him with a judgemental eyebrow raised. 

“Renjun said don’t come back until next week,” Jaemin says. 

“Renjun isn’t my boss,” Jeno says crossly. He’s been days since he’s been out of the house and sure he doesn’t feel his best but he’s so sick of being stuck in his flat that he’s itching to get out. 

“You’re stubborn,” Jaemin notes with pursed lips. 

“Good eye, Sherlock,” he says as he straightens from pulling on his socks. The room spins slightly when he does so and he suddenly feels weak again. Crawling back into bed seems really nice but Jaemin is sitting on it with crossed legs and he can’t stand the smug look he’ll have if he admits defeat now and so he forces his body into the living room and kitchen. 

Jaemin trails behind him and leans against his counter as he watches him methodically start up the coffee pot. Since he knows that the actor will be looking closely for any sign out of the ordinary, Jeno does his best to move normally and not show any weakness. But the more he moves, the more energy he feels is draining away from his clutches without sany of his consent. 

He has to sit when he finally turns the coffee pot on and once he does he finds it awfully hard to get back up. Glancing up at Jaemin, he sees that he has a carefully blank look on his face. He’s not gloating or smug or even arguing with him, it’s clear that he is letting Jeno make his own decisions. Even if he thinks it’s the wrong one. 

It’s a combination of the obvious protection of Jeno’s pride and the concern that flit over his face after Jeno coughs that has him sighing in defeat. 

“I’ll bring the coffee to your room for you?” Jaemin offers. 

“Please,” Jeno says gratefully, dragging himself back into his room and stripping down to get back into bed. 

\-----

His phone rings a few days later. It’s a blocked number and he’s confused but he decides to answer it anyways. There has been plenty of weirdness in his life recently, what is one more odd thing? 

“I heard you are determined to go back to the shop today,” is the greeting. 

“Hi Donghyuck, I’m fine, how are you?” Jeno replies dryly. 

“We are calling a car for you,” Donghyuck continues as if he never even sassed him. He supposes if anyone is going to have the ability to rise above the sass, it will be Donghyuck. 

“We?” Jeno asks, resigned to it. 

“Jaemin and I,” he explains. 

“You two seem to be getting along,” Jeno says before he can really think much about what he is saying but when it’s said, it is said and there is no backing out of it now. There is a heavy pause as Jeno winces, grateful the other can’t see his face. 

“Shut up,” is Donghyuck’s amazing retort. Jeno chuckles and Donghyuck gives an angry-sounding noise, “Just stay hydrated and don’t be stupid.” 

And then he hangs up on him. 

Jeno pulls the phone from his face and blinks at it. Then he wonders how he’s supposed to find this ride they are offering with no information. Silently he cheers Donghyuck’s inability to talk because that means he can take the metro like a normal person. 

But then he walks out of the front door of his apartment building and a familiar face is leaning against a sleek black car parked out front with it’s blinkers on. 

“Ah, you.” Jeno says, pointing at him, “The weirdo that was looking for Jaemin.” 

“Ah, me,” the man says and sure enough it was the annoying man who was weird about trying to find Jaemin only for them to realize it was his manager. “Weirdo has a name you know.” 

Jeno frowns, “Maybe the weirdo should consider that next time he barges into people’s shops and is weird about it.” 

“I wasn’t trying to let anyone overhear us, so I was being purposeful vague,” Yuta rolls his eyes, “If you just told me where he was, we wouldn’t have had a problem.” 

“No can do, even now that I know who you are,” Jeno easily says. There’s a beat where Yuta seems to size him up before he burst out into laughter. 

“Oh, man, you’d be annoying if I didn’t like how protective you are,” Yuta says between laughs. 

“Shut up and let’s get this over with,” Jeno says with a frown. 

“Of course, sir,” Yuta says with a politeness it’s obvious he doesn’t have and he opens the car door with a bow that is nothing but mocking. It’s bad but what is worse is when they get to the shop and Yuta refuses to leave, sitting up at the bar instead. 

“What are you doing?” Jeno asks in disbelief. 

“Keeping an eye on the package,” Yuta says with a toothy grin. “And I’m supposed to make you go home in four hours.” 

Jeno groans and Renjun, the dick, cackles happily. He throws an unhappy pout his way and Renjun just shakes his head. 

“You started this with the pining and being cute and getting in the middle of a big drama shitstorm,” Renjun says with a shrug, “You brought them on yourself.” 

What had he been thinking? He should’ve ran from them while he had the chance. 

Sure enough, Yuta rounds him up, four hours on the dot, and forces him to go back home. Renjun doesn’t even help him try to stay, a shit-eating grin on his face as he is pulled out the back door. 

It’s like no one wants him to be a productive member of society. 

When he gets back to his home, he’s let off at the entrance by a far too smug Yuta and he pouts hard the entire walk to his flat. When he lets himself in, he finds Donghyuck filling his fridge with fresh groceries. 

“Okay, what the hell, you don’t even have a key,” Jeno says, throwing his hands up in frustration. “No, wait, let me guess-” 

“Renjun,” they both say at the same time. 

Jeno flops onto his couch and stares at the ceiling. The urge to call his best friend and chew him out is strong. 

Then Jaemin lets himself into the flat and Jeno is ready to have a conniption. 

“You have a key too?!” He cries out in disbelief. 

“Too?” Jaemin repeats in confusion before his eyes land on Donghyuck and freezes, a bag in one hand in a key in the other. 

“Oh, hi,” Jaemin greets awkwardly. 

“What are you doing here?” Donghyuck asks, straightening up from putting some banana milk in the fridge and, really, did they think he was a child? 

“I brought some groceries?” Jaemin says, lifting up the bag in his hand. 

Jeno looks confusedly between the two of them as they have a whole moment when they are sizing each other up. 

“Well, this is awkward,” Donghyuck sums up. 

“Are you telling me,” Jeno starts out slowly, “That you both, without consulting each other, went out of your way to get me groceries on the same day at almost the same time?” 

The ringing silence is answer enough. Jeno surprises himself when a chuckle escapes him. The other two look at him, Donghyuck looking pained and Jaemin curious. 

“You too really are far too similar,” he laughs. Jaemin looks down at his toes and Donghyuck’s whole face gets soft. 

“C’mon,” he says when he’s done laughing at how adorable the two of them are, stepping up to Jaemin and taking the bag from his hands, “Let’s make dinner.” 

Donghyuck flusters right up at that, “I can’t possibly stay-” 

“You are not leaving me with this amount of groceries, I can’t possibly eat them myself,” Jeno says patiently as Jaemin follows him into the kitchen, “Both of your shitty communication skills have put you here and you both are just going to have to pay the consequences.” 

Jaemin is quiet but doesn’t argue, finding a seat at the counter bar stool, Donghyuck puts up a big blustering argument but Jeno just listens to it as he rifles through the groceries and decides what to make. 

“Are you done?” Jeno asks, handing him some cabbage. The poor man looks worn out and is eyeing him hatefully, “Wash this for me.” 

“You aren’t listening to me,” Donghyuck grits through his teeth. 

“I’m listening to you and I’d comment on it if I thought it wasn’t a bunch of BS,” Jeno says with a smile, “Just shut up and enjoy our company.” 

Donghyuck takes a moment to look at him, fidgeting slightly, before he goes to obey. When Jeno brings some ingredients to the island, Jaemin looks impressed, eyes on him as he leans against his palm. 

“Do you want to help?” He asks. 

“I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” Donghyuck chimes in. Jaemin bites his lip to hide his smile and Jeno’s not quite sure why he would want to hide his handsome smile but he does and Jeno wisely chooses to not comment on it. 

“Let’s say I’m not so good in the kitchen.” Jaemin offers. 

“A nightmare,” Donghyuck supplements dryly and Jeno laughs at their back and forth. 

“I guess you’ll just have to supervise and, most importantly,” Jeno says, opening up drawers and taking what he needs from them, before looking back up at Jaemin with a wide, enthusiastic smile, “Taste test.” 

Jaemin practically lights up at that, his eyes gleaming and his smile wide. While Donghyuck and he work, Jeno is careful to remember to include Jaemin on what he is doing, offering him bites or asking him how he prefers his food. He can’t remember a single time Jaemin ate at the shop and he takes advantage of having him right here to feed him exactly what he wants. 

The actor seems to glow under the attention, eyes bright as he cheekily licks a stray bit of sauce from his lips. Jeno quickly busies himself with cooking the meat so he doesn’t think about him at all let alone his tongue and lips. When he looks up again, he is surprised when Donghyuck is offering Jaemin a bite of what he is making. 

Jaemin looks up at him with round eyes before leaning forward and tasting the spoon held out for him by Donghyuck. He doesn’t drop eye contact and Jeno swears he can feel the electricity spark between them from the other side of the kitchen and holds his breath in anticipation. 

“It’s good,” Jaemin says lowly. Donghyuck flushes, dropping eye contact. 

“I’m glad,” he offers softly, fidgeting slightly before he returns to his work station. Jeno lets out his breath finally and hides his smile, going back to his work as if he never even saw the moment. 

Dinner is pleasant. The food tastes good and the wine makes them feel warm and Jeno gets drunk off of the company. 

“Oh my god, when you had the silver hair for that one song-” Jeno gushes, trailing off with an inhuman noise. 

“Oh? Did it look nice?” Donghyuck teases, leaning forward with a smug smile, “Maybe I should go back.” 

“Nooo,” Jaemin wines, “The orange is so pretty.” 

Donghyuck self-consciously rubs his hands through his hair and crinkles his nose, “I was going for red originally.” 

Jeno hums appreciatively while Jaemin winces, “God, your poor hair.” 

“Such is the life,” Donghyuck says and Jeno can’t not take the opportunity to lean over to ruffle his hair. He’s not sure how much longer this fever dream of having two hopelessly stubborn lovesick fools in his life is going to last so he drunkenly decides to take advantage of every moment he can. 

“It feels like cardboard!” Jeno exclaims, eyes wide, looking in disbelief between his hand and Donghyuck hair. 

The idol pouts, a sure fire sign that he has to be as tipsy as him as Jeno has never seen him purposely look so cute. Meanwhile, Jaemin cackles happily. 

“As if yours is much better,” Donghyuck hisses at the actor. 

“But it looks so soft!” Jeno says, still confused. 

“It’s amazing what money can do,” Jaemin quips and Donghyuck pouts again. 

They move to the couch, wine glasses in hand and Donghyuck is busy poking at Jeno’s bluetooth speaker as Jaemin curls into the corner of the cushions. 

“I haven’t eaten that well in- Well, forever,” Jaemin moans happily, his wine sloshing in his glass when Jeno flops over on the other side of the couch, putting a careful distance between them. 

“You need to stop starving yourself,” Donghyuck pipes up as the speaker finally starts to blink that it’s on. 

Jeno whips over to glare at Jaemin, “What?” 

“It’s not starving,” Jaemin protests sheepishly, “Just more like selective eating.” 

He knows he has a horrified look on his face, his mouth agape, all this time and he hadn’t noticed that once. 

“Such is the life,” Jaemin echoes from earlier, shrugging. A slow jazz song interrupts their conversation as Donghyuck finally gets the speaker to work. 

“I’m bringing my speaker next time,” Donghyuck complains and Jeno is very careful not to be overtly excited by the possibility of a next time. He then pauses when he walks to the couch. The only open space is between him and Jaemin and he obvious hesitates to sit so close to Jaemin. Finally, he decides to push Jeno out of the way so he has to sit in between the two celebrities. 

Jeno doesn’t have to look to feel Jaemin’s disappointment and not for the first time, he’s reminded that these two had a rather public breakup of a secret relationship. And now he’s literally and figuratively between them. There’s a heavy moment when the three of them all stumble for something to stay before Jeno does the only thing that will break the atmosphere between them. 

“Cheers?” He offers, holding his wine glass out. Donghyuck gives him a grateful smile as they all three take another drink. 

“What are gay bars like?” Donghyuck asks, eyes burning with curiosity. They are another bottle of wine down and Jeno wonders what intentions they had bringing all this wine in along with the groceries. 

“You’ve never been?” Jeno asks, surprised, “I thought with all of the secret celebrity rumors there would be some celebrity-only bars.” 

“God, I wish,” Jaemin says miserably, drunk enough to be leaning all up and down his side. 

“And you don’t count our bar as a gay one?” Jeno decides to tease. “You’ve definitely been there.” 

“One gay does not a gay bar make,” Donghyuck says, breaking the ridiculously wise-sounding sentence with a hiccup. 

“I hate to break your fantasty, but I am definitely not the only queer person at the bar,” Jeno says with a smug smile. 

“Who?!” Jaemin asks eagerly. 

“Who have you met at the shop?” Jeno says a bit proudly, “Because all of them.” 

“You’d never guess,” Donghyuck sounds surprised. 

“That’s the point, queer people live and breathe just like everyone else. Who we love doesn’t effect anything else we do,” Jeno says with an ease that only comes with years of practice. It leaves the other two in stunned silence. 

“Even Renjun with a kid?” Jaemin asks hollowly. 

“Even Renjun with his kid,” Jeno confirms. 

“I would’ve never known, if I had never come to the shop,” Donghyuck says sounding pained and Jeno takes the opportunity to reach out and hold his hand. 

“That’s okay,” Jeno says with a warm smile, Donghyuck’s eyes are impossibly sad, “I know it’s been hard for you too.” 

“We were fated to come to the shop, I think,” Jaemin says softly, reaching over to place his hand on top of both of theirs. 

“Yeah,” Donghyuck agrees breathlessly. 

Before they can crack open another bottle of wine, Jaemin insists that Jeno is still recovering and so he can’t afford to have any more alcohol which, unfortunately, Donghyuck seems to wholeheartedly agree with. 

“I’m not a baby.” He protests but he still obeys. It’s nice to be taken care of which he won’t admit to either of them. And so he tells them goodnight and quickly turns into bed, feeling warm and tipsy and happy. 

It does, however, annoy him when he goes to commute to work the next day and Yuta is standing outside his building again. 

“You are so annoying!” He complains. 

“Take it up with the boss because I am literally getting paid to be here,” Yuta replies easily, opening the car door with an unnecessary bow that pisses Jeno off even more. “Young sir.” 

“I’m gunna young sir your boss in his-” Yuta cuts off his rant by closing the door. 

After work, where he’s graciously allowed to work six hours, Jeno insists that Yuta take him to Donghyuck. 

“Now.” He says with very little politeness, “Words need to be had with him.” 

“Only because this is going to be more amusing for me than anything else,” Yuta agrees with an annoying ability to do as Jeno asked but also make him feel like it was Yuta’s intention all along. In the back of his mind in a place that isn’t angry, he can admit that it probably makes him an incredibly effective manager while the rest of his mind screams at how annoying it is. 

“Jaemin is in the middle of a shoot, so I’ll take you to Donghyuck,” Yuta mentions as they turn onto the main road. 

Yuta pulls up to a low-key looking building and Jeno is directed to a stairway that leads to a basement door. When he steps inside, it’s a practice room like ones he has seen from tv. Donghyuck immediately looks up from where he had been sitting at the piano and his eyes go wide. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” He asks, astonished. 

“I’m here to pick a fight with you!” Jeno says, holding onto his anger in the face of a soft-looking Donghyuck who is in a huge shirt and looking completely dressed down, his hair laying gently around his face. 

“Do you have to?” Donghyuck asks, sounding worn. Jeno pauses to take in his pale skin and dark circles. All of the anger leaves him in a whoosh. 

“No,” he acquiesces quickly. Donghyuck gives him a tired smile. 

“That was easier than I expected,” he says, running a hand through his hair, showing his black roots. 

“There will be plenty of time to yell at you later,” Jeno says with a smile, taking the chance to sit at the piano bench next to him. It squeaks threateningly but thankfully holds. Donghyuck takes the proximity as an opportunity to shift just a titch so that he can press his side into Jeno’s. His heart races when Donghyuck put his fingers to the keys. 

“Want to hear something I’ve been working on instead of yelling at me?” Donghyuck asks, idly playing a cord. 

“There’s nothing I want more. Yanno, other than actually yelling at you.” Jeno teases and he gets a gentle nudge with Donghyuck’s shoulder at the lame joke. 

It’s amazing when Donghyuck starts to sing. His voice is melodic and Jeno has always been a fan but there is something about hearing his honey-like voice right next to him, echoing in the room around him. He sways a bit, lost in the piano and Donghyuck’s voice. When he finishes, Jeno has to blink out of his lost gaze. 

“I don’t know that song,” he admits. 

“I hope not,” Donghyuck chuckles, still poking at the piano keys, “Considering this is my newest piece.” 

Jeno thinks about the lyrics, a man lost in love and can’t help but to be biased. 

“It’s going to be a hit,” Jeno swears. It would be undetectable if he wasn’t pressed up next to him but he can feel Donghyuck’s shoulders slump. 

“Yea,” he says sounding worn-out, “Whenever they let me back into the studio that is.” 

His heart squeezes painfully for him. He can’t imagine something as precious as music getting taken away from Donghyuck. Not for the first time, the realization that LBGT people have to sacrifice so much simply for loving who they love burns hotly in his chest. 

He adamantly wishes it could make it different for Donghyuck. That he can’t burns at him even hotter. 

\-----

It’s a few days later that he is able to shake off his constant worrying and escorting friends so that he can commute alone. It almost feels weird when he takes the train and works a full shift without anyone weirdly watching him as he does. 

“No entourage today?” Renjun teases so Jeno gives him a flat look. 

The shift passes slowly today and the flow of customers all but dries up a few hours before close. 

“Go on, I can close by myself today,” he tells Renjun in the middle of sweeping the floors. 

He perks up and gives him a shitty grin, “Wait, no babysitter to run you off early today?” 

Jeno doesn’t even have to look up from what he is doing to flip him his middle finger. Renjun cackles happily then gets quiet. 

“What?” Jeno can’t help but to ask him, peering over where he has frozen, mid-sweep. 

“Remember the last time you let me off early?” Renjun asks mildly. Jeno searches his memory and it clicks into place. 

“Oh,” that was the first day Jaemin came to the shop. The past few months rush by him and he realizes how quickly time has passed. He’s a bit reminiscent before he wonders why Renjun is bringing that up now. “Why?” 

“Just makes me feel like I’m going to miss something big again,” Renjun responds dryly. Jeno rolls his eyes. 

“As if.” He only wishes his life was that exciting. He’s pretty sure meeting Jaemin and Donghyuck is the highlight of his whole time on this planet. 

Then when Renjun has left and Jeno has locked the front door, he walks to the break room and sees Jaemin has les himself into the shop through the back. 

Jeno can’t help but to laugh. 

“What?” Jaemin asks, a smile on his face like he wants to join in the laugh too, but his eyes search Jeno’s face as if it would have the joke on it. 

“We were just talking about you,” Jeno explains. 

“All good things, I’m sure,” Jaemin says with a soft confidence that make his eyes glow. 

“Always,” Jeno flings back with a wide smile, offering, “Want to sit while I close up?” 

Jaemin nods and finds a seat on a bar stool. It’s the bar stool he always sits at but this time it makes Jeno pause. Donghyuck and Jaemin tend to sit in the same spots every time they come to the shop but he hadn’t noticed that their favorite seats are sat right next to each other. Jeno shakes his head and smiles, those two are more in tune with each other than they think. 

“Can I make you anything?” Jeno offers, not bothering to fight the smile on his face. Jaemin looks at him curiously but doesn’t ask. 

“Wine?” He asks. Jeno is surprised and he isn’t afraid to show it, given Jaemin a weird look. Jaemin asks, “What?” 

“Doesn’t seem like you, is all,” Jeno offers with a shrug. 

“It’s not but that wine we had the other night was so good,” Jaemin admits, eyes looking to the alcoholic bottles lined up behind him, “But if you have a suggestion.” 

“I kinda want to make you something sweet,” Jeno says, watching the actor for his reaction. 

“Please,” he perks up immediately. 

“Coming right up,” Jeno says with a slight laugh. He goes ahead and makes himself one too because why not. If he drank with Donghyuck after hours, he could with Jaemin too. 

He makes a cocktail with more syrup than he would for a regular customer because he knows Jaemin. When he passes it to Jaemin, the first sip he has is accompanied by wide, excited eyes. 

“Yum,” he hums happily. 

“I thought you might like,” Jeno smiles as he makes his own but with just vodka and orange juice. 

“What is it called?” Jaemin asks innocently and Jeno bits on the inside of his cheek so that he doesn’t blush. 

“Does it matter?” He tries to brush off with a shrug. 

“Yes,” Jaemin says, not letting him slide away with it at all. Jeno tries to mumble his answer, but Jaemin is very insistent on hearing what he has to say. 

“Sex on the beach,” Jeno finally concedes with what must be a slight blush. Jaemin cackles at his embarrassment. 

“Seems appropriate for me,” Jaemin says, waggling his eyebrows and he has to turn his back on him to finish wiping down the display case behind him so he doesn’t make a stupid comment. 

Jeno proceeds to make him two more fruity drinks based solely his rececipe memory for what Jaemin might like. He doesn’t appear to pick a single one wrong. 

“Jeno, join me,” Jaemin whines not for the first time that hour. 

“I’m trying to close the bar,” Jeno tries to protest but he’s had a few strong drinks himself and so he is drawn to the actor and his convincing pleading eyes. He wonders how he can get them to tear up and sparkle like that on demand (practice maybe?) as he finally swings into the seat by him. 

“Renjun is going to be so mad at me,” Jeno feels like he needs to say without really thinking of why. 

“He’s always mad at you, it seems,” Jaemin comments as he sips his drink, this time that is bright blue. 

“Only because he cares,” and Jeno feels soft just saying it. 

“You guys are close,” Jaemin says, picking up on his mood. 

“After I came out to my parents and they proceeded to very quickly kick me out of the house, Renjun has become my whole family.” Jeno explains with a wide smile, “Renjun and Sicheng that is.” 

“You are lucky to have them,” Jaemin says and he doesn’t have to tell Jeno twice. 

“I know,” he beams happily. There’s a moment where it’s clear that Jaemin is starting to feel sorry for himself, eyes down on his glass. Jeno tries to fill the silence, “But you have us too!” 

Jaemin seems to just melt at that, his lips stretching into a smile that curls attractively at the ends, almost like a cat. 

“Thank you,” he seems to pause again before continuing, “It seemed like all I needed was Donghyuck in my life, but now…” 

The way he trails off is meaningful, a sad pause. 

“You still have him! He is still there for you,” Jeno says confidently. The actor gives him a look. 

“Be serious,” he says and Jeno has to shake his head. 

“You two are the most oblivious people I’ve ever met,” Jeno says bluntly. Jaemin tilts his head back and barks out a laugh. 

“Glass houses, Jeno-ah~” he sees with a large grin that doesn’t seem to match the mood. Jeno laughs nervously, not really sure what else to do before he takes another drink. When he puts his glass down, Jaemin has scooted into his personal space and smiles at him. 

It’s something to be said, how handsome Jaemin is, but up and close is even worse. His perfectly shaped eyes that crinkle attractively and his wide smile that is practically blinding sets Jeno’s heart into overdrive. 

Before he knows it, Jaemin leans over and brushes a kiss across his lips. Jeno sucks in a surprised breath and Jaemin chuckles before diving back in for another kiss. He tastes sweet, like the drinks he has been making him all night, and there is something so steady about him when he places a firm hand on the back of his neck, encouraging him to tilt back with a slight press of his thumb to his skin. He shivers and opens his mouth just a bit when a crash has them jumping apart. 

Blinking in surprise, Jeno turns and finds Donghyuck standing in the doorway from the shop to the break room. His eyes are wide with shock and Jeno doesn’t even have a moment to process the situation before Donghyuck’s face crumples with hurt and he turns on his heel and flees. 

Jeno is on his feet and after him before he can really thinking about anything else but by the time he stumbles out the back door, he’s gone into the night. When he comes back to the shop, empty handed, he finds Jaemin crouched by what Donghyuck dropped. 

A thumb drive with “demo” written on it in black marker. 

\----

He gets a sorry text from Jaemin before he gets home but he doesn’t have the energy to respond to it. Robotically, he puts the thumb into his computer’s port, quickly pulling up the music software and plays it, laying on the couch. He hasn’t bothered to turn on the lights but it doesn’t stop him from squeezing his eyes shut in frustration. 

The music is amazing, as Jeno knew it would be, as if there was any doubt with Donghyuck’s musical talents. But it does sound a bit different than the music he is used to hearing from the idol. The vocals start soft but there is a rawness there that hasn’t been in his music before. 

When the chorus hits, Jeno flings his eyes open and watches the colors spiral on the ceiling above him, listening to the lyrics of how easy it is to misspeak with someone you love. 

And then Jeno feels like a dick. He closes his eyes again and tucks his head under a cushion, wanting to block out everything but how shitty of a friend he is. 

Renjun lets himself into the apartment not too long after that, a sleepy Sicheng in tow. 

“Are you drunk?” he asks plainly. 

“Not anymore,” Jeno answers hoarsely. 

“That’s a good start,” Renjun says, depositing Sicheng on top of him. Jeno wraps his arms around the toddler who is blinking slowly, half a moment from sleep. 

“Sorry,” he says, not really sure who he is apologizing to as he lets himself start to cry. 

“S’okay,” is Sicheng’s childish response. So easy to accept an apology as a child. Sicheng then wraps his arms around his neck and pulls him close. Renjun pokes them from the couch and into the bedroom after a while. 

Jeno falls asleep between the body heat of the two people who love him the most. 

It doesn’t stop him from feeling like a shitty person. But it does remind him he is loved. 

\-----

He wakes up the next morning and doesn’t even have to look at a mirror to know his eyes are puffy. The lingering headache that only comes from a night of hard crying only solidifies his assumption. 

“Ready to talk?” Renjun asks as he shuffles into the kitchen in search of coffee. Renjun, blessed man, hands him a cup already made just the way he likes it. He can’t help but to tear up again. 

“Sicheng?” He asks. Renjun nods to the living room where the kid is watching some morning cartoons unwaveringly. He has to watch him a bit to even see Sicheng blink. 

Jeno turns back to Renjun and can’t quite meet his eyes. 

“Work?” He says, slightly hoping he can get out of his situation. 

“I called in Jisung and he is going to cover for us until Lucas can come help,” Renjun replies smoothly, already prepared for his escape plan. 

“Lucas?” Jeno says worriedly. 

“He’s a temp, but he’ll be fine with Jisung helping him,” Renjun says with a roll of his eyes, “But quit trying to change the top of conversation and spill.” 

“I don’t remember?” He tries sheepishly. 

“Nice try, buddy,” Renjun says nonplussed, crossing his arms and giving him a glare, “No, actually, terrible try.” 

“Jaemin came over to the bar after you left,” Jeno finally admits. His friend continues looking at him as if that wasn’t as big of a surprise as Jeno thought it would be for him. With the hanging silence and Renjun’s heavy stare, he finally continues, “And we might have kissed.” 

“Oh my god,” Renjun says, finally looking surprised. 

“And Donghyuck might have seen it,” Jeno confesses with a wince. 

“Aw, fuck,” Renjun says and Jeno would be proud of the reaction, never having seen his friend look so surprised, if it wasn’t such a fucked up situation. 

“Daddy said a bad word!” Sicheng calls happily from the other room, giggling and Jeno has to bite his lip to not join along. Renjun shakes his head and sighs. 

“Start from the beginning,” he orders, ignoring his son still laughing in the background. Jeno quickly fills him in. 

“And you think the song Donghyuck left you was about Jaemin,” Renjun says at the end of Jeno’s long story. 

“Of course, who else could it be?” Jeno says slowly as if Renjun hadn’t understood his whole story. 

“Do I really have to say?” Renjun asks him as he is the dumb one instead. Jeno doesn’t understand where the tone is coming from and throws him a look. His friend drags a hand down his face and sighs loudly, “You know what, never mind.” 

“Never mind what?” Jeno asks, slightly annoyed. 

“You! You oblivious idiot, the song could be about you!” Renjun finally explodes. He hears the words but doesn’t seem to process them. 

“No,” Jeno says, simply because there is no way. 

“Well,” Renjun says in that tone that he knows from experience that his friend clearly thinks he is right and there is no way Jeno is, “There is only one way to find out.” 

Jeno groans, he really doesn’t want to do that. But he also sees no other alternative. 

Before he sends the text he takes a moment to walk over to Renjun and hug him. 

“Thank you,” he says but it doesn’t seem to encapsulate all of the feelings he has with that sentiment. He’s only got two family members in the whole world and they are in the same room. Renjun may come off harsh but it’s only because he cares. 

“Always,” Renjun says, wrapping his arms back around him, sinking his fingers into his soft t-shirt. Love for him blooms in Jeno’s chest and he squeezes just a bit harder. 

\-----

His first few texts go unanswered which Jeno doesn’t find surprising, considering the circumstances. Jaemin has tried to text him a few times and he’s ignored them just the same so he really can’t expect Donghyuck to act any differently. 

Even if he kind-of really wishes he would. 

He’s trying to consider what his alternate options are to reach out the singer considering he knows where his practice room is (unless he shared that room with others, Jeno supposes he would) when a familiar face slumps into a seat at his bar. 

“Welcome! How can I help-” He greets brightly before recognizing him. Sourly, he says, “Yuta.” 

“I’m just as displeased to see you,” Yuta reassures him, “But we’ve got a mutual problem that needs your time and attention.” 

Mutual problem sounds a lot like Donghyuck or Jaemin and so Jeno swallows any salty words he has and gives him his full attention. 

“I’m listening,” he says with as little distaste as he possibly can. 

“One of our mutual problems is moping big time, he’s barely left the studio” Yuta says with an over-the-top sigh, “Moody kid.” 

“I heard he was banned,” Jeno says sourly and Yuta gives him an unamused look. 

“I don’t make the rules, brat, I just enforce them,” he says purposefully light, “If you aren’t interested in seeing him, I can always take myself somewhere else.” 

“No!” Jeno leaps in quickly, “No, I’m sorry.” 

Yuta smiles and it annoys him that he knows his weak point so easily. 

“Can you get off of work?” The manager asks. That he isn’t so sure about, he feels like he’s been taking so much time off of work with his illness and the drama between the two celebrities. He looks around the shop and locks eyes with Renjun who look annoyed already. 

“Go,” he says before Jeno can even scrap together a good argument. Jeno winces. 

“How many shifts do I owe you now?” He asks, feeling sorry before he’s even left the shop. 

“More than you could ever make up,” Renjun says dryly, “Just remember that when Sicheng gets sick next time.” 

“I won’t forget,” he promises before sweeping him up into a quick hug before he follows Yuta out the door. 

\----

Jeno isn’t taken to the same room as last time even they go to the same building. Yuta parks the car this time and escorts him in. He’s led through a maze of hallways and floors before he gets to a room with a small window that is dark inside. 

“Good luck,” Yuta says, nodding towards the door. Jeno nods and puts his hand on the door handle before he opens it he can hear the manager mutter, “You are going to need it.” 

But he tosses it aside and steps into the room. 

Donghyuck isn’t where Jeno expects him to be. The studio is set up a lot like what he has seen in the idol tv shows he’s seen in the past and Donghyuck isn’t at the chair in front of the computer or even at the little digital keyboard on the side, instead he is slumped over a loveseat, his body propped up and legs handing off the edge. It doesn’t look comfortable but he is completely knocked out. 

Feeling soft and remembering the dark circles under his eyes last time they met, Jeno decides to take a seat on the floor, scooting so his back is against the couch and he waits. It’s quiet and, frankly, gets a bit boring after a while so he decides to play on his phone while he waits for Donghyuck to wake up. The height of the couch is perfect enough for him to support his neck on the cushion portion and when he leans back to look up at the ceiling, he blinks his eyes for what seems like just a moment but before he knows it, he is asleep too. 

When he wakes, he has been crammed up on the small loveseat and Donghyuck is at the chair in front of the computer, headset on, and bobbing to the beat that Jeno can’t hear. His heart skips a beat when he realizes that Donghyuck must’ve woken up at some point and put him on the couch and then went back to work. Feeling soft, he decides to watch Donghyuck for a bit. 

The singer looks comfortable here, sliding in his chair between the computer, the beat machine to his left and the electric piano to his right. Jeno barely gets his fill before Donghyuck glances back and sees that Jeno is awake. 

A frown pulls at his lips as he pulls his headset down to rest on his neck and swivels his office chair around. 

“What?” Donghyuck says somewhat crossly. Jeno doesn’t let it get to him, he knows the singers defensive mechanisms by now. 

“You are amazing.” He says with absolute honesty. 

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Donghyuck says with a pursed lips. It gives Jeno great pleasure to continue to ignore him. 

“Can I have a listen?” He asks, referring to whatever music Jeno can’t hear. 

“No,” Donghyuck says stubbornly. Jeno laughs. 

“Okay,” he says, getting comfortable as he leans back in the loveseat. 

“What do you think you are doing, exactly?” Donghyuck asks in a huff. 

“Waiting until you are ready to talk,” Jeno explains easily with a smile and a cute eye crinkle to boot. 

“It’s not going to happen.” Donghyuck says, a persistent tug to his frown. 

“Okay,” Jeno says brightly, bringing in his legs so he can wrap his arms around them. 

“Fine,” the singer says unhappily but seemingly conceding. 

“That was easy,” Jeno says with slight disbelief. 

“If you want to talk, let’s talk,” Donghyuck says hotly and this is not exactly what he had been intending but it’s happening, “Let’s talk about how you are a dick.” 

“I am a dick,” Jeno agrees easily, “But tell me what I’m a dick for.” 

“Because you kissed Jaemin!” Donghyuck says angrily, standing up suddenly. 

“I did do that,” Jeno admits, again easily, “But why does it make you mad?” 

“Because!” Donghyuck yells but doesn’t finish the sentence. Jeno waits for it to come but it doesn’t. 

“Because what?” he presses as gently as he can. 

“I- I just, you-” Donghyuck struggles for the words before he flings his hands up into the air and starts to pace. “When you guys-” 

Jeno very patiently waits for a full sentence but Donghyuck isn’t any closer to anything coherent after not an insignificant amount of time. The singer paces and mutters angrily to himself before flinging himself back into his chair. 

“Well?” Jeno asks. There is a long wait as he can see Donghyuck struggle to find the courage to say the words that are clearly churning in his thoughts. 

“I honestly can’t tell if I’m more angry that you kissed him or if he kissed you,” Donghyuck ends up spitting out between gritted teeth. 

That confession is one that Jeno hadn’t been expecting. 

“Oh,” is all he says after a considerable pause. 

“Yeah,” Donghyuck says hopelessly followed with a deep breath that seems to carry a heavy burden with it. 

“I thought the song was about Jaemin?” Jeno asked confusedly. 

“That’s the way it started,” Donghyuck admits, shaking his head so his hair falls into his eyes, “But somewhere in the middle it became about you.” 

“Hm,” Jeno wisely says. Donghyuck rolls his eyes and throws a pen from his desk at him. 

“Frankly, I had this whole argument queued up for why you and Jaemin are perfect for each other,” Jeno admits, his thoughts are spinning more than he was prepared for, “But this changes things.” 

“No shit,” Donghyuck says scathingly. 

“Can I have another listen?” Jeno asks, surprising himself but not as much as it appears he surprises Donghyuck, his eyes widen and face draining of color. 

“Here? With me?” He asks, stunned. 

“Please?” Jeno pleads with a smile, deciding to try and appeal to Donghyuck’s side that clearly likes him. He gets a lot of grumbles but he unplugs his headset and turns back to the computer. Before he can say anything else, the song is playing through the studio’s amazing stereo system, much better than his shitty player at home. It’s rough, obviously not the finished version of his song but it gives him goosebumps now that he realizes Donghyuck’s thoughts behind it. By the time the song is finishing, Jeno has a game plan. 

“Do you trust me?” Jeno asks in the lingering silence after the song is over. Donghyuck hadn’t turned his chair back around but he does now just to level a hard glare on him. 

“No,” he says and seems like he means it. 

Jeno laughs and stands, he crosses the room and tilts Donghyuck’s chin up and places the soft kiss he can manage on his lips. The singer practically melts at physical touch. It makes Jeno eager to touch him more, but he refrains, pulling together his self-control to pull away from him. He looks so soft that it takes everything in him to not just swoop back in. 

“Meet me at the shop after hours?” Jeno asks. 

“No,” Donghyuck says again but the harshness has melted from his tone and he looks like putty in his chair now, all stiffness gone to leave a soft man in its wake. Like Jeno has learned, he doesn’t listen to the words but to his actions instead. 

“I’ll see you there,” he says with a bright smile, unable to help himself to ruffle his hair before he is out the door setting up his game plan. 

\-----

The two celebrities are set to come into his shop and Jeno can feel his heart start to pick up from his usual pace in his chest. He’s fucking nervous and even though Renjun gave him a good luck hug before he left, he feels a bit like he is jumping off of a cliff and hoping there is a sharp something at the bottom so he can get it over with quickly and not suffer for long. 

But negative thoughts aside, Jeno waves Jaemin over to the booth he’s been sitting at while waiting for them, predictably coming in a bit early. 

“How was your shoot?” Jeno asks as if today is no other day than usual. 

“You’ve been ignoring all of my texts and calls for three days after I kiss you and you want to know how my drama shoot went?” Jaemin asks sounding the most frustrated Jeno has ever heard him, shaking his head, “You are something.” 

Jeno just smiles at him and patiently waits for an answer. 

“It was fine,” Jaemin says stiffly, “Are you going to explain what is going on?” 

“Not until Donghyuck gets here.” Jeno says sweetly. 

Jaemin gets even more stiff at the mention of Donghyuck’s name, “What? You didn’t tell me he was going to be here.” 

“If I did, you wouldn’t come,” he continues with his sweet tone and Jaemin narrows his eyes, opening his mouth to say something but is interrupted by the door opening again. 

“Oh, hi Donghyuck~” he greets warmly as the singer steps through the doorway, pulling his mask down as he does so. 

“If you are here to explain why you kissed me, that would be great,” Donghyuck says dryly, eyeying Jaemin as he does so. Jaemin had been gathering his belongings to leave when he stops cold. 

“You kissed him?” Jaemin asks Jeno, devastation written all over his face, he shakes his head like he can’t understand, his voice broken, “Is that why you asked me to come? So you could let me know you are hooking up with my ex now?” 

Jeno has had very few opportunities to see Jaemin not at his most charming self and this moment is particularly heartbreaking and so he leans over the table to grab his hand. 

“No,” he corrects quickly but it doesn’t quite wipe the devasted look off of his face. Then Donghyuck sniffs unhappily. 

“So it’s me who is going to get my heartbroken?” He asks in that way that sounds angry but is really a mad front to hide the hurt. 

This is not going exactly to plan. 

“No, you idiot, come here,” Jeno says reaching out to Donghyuck with his other hand. He takes a moment to consider Jeno’s hand, taking a glance at Jaemin who is carefully watching just Jeno and purposefully not looking over at Donghyuck. With a sigh, he walks over and takes Jeno’s hand, sitting in the booth beside Jeno. 

For a moment, a burst of pride blooms in his chest. That these two trust him enough to sit side by side and listen to what he has to say and put aside their broken past. He’s holding both of their hands while they sit on the other side of the booth together and a flash of when Donghyuck nudged Jeno on his couch so that he wouldn’t have to sit next to Jaemin and Jeno can’t help the grin that comes across his face. 

“Stop beaming and hurry up with it,” Donghyuck says gruffly. 

“I like you,” Jeno says simply, his grin not fading at all. 

Jaemin and Donghyuck trade a confused look. 

“Who are you talking to?” Jaemin asks, looking at him like he’s a bit mad. 

“Both of you.” Jeno says, this time his grin getting wider. 

“How is that even possible?” Donghyuck says, sounding a bit defensive. 

“Very simple, really, my heart is really big and has room for both of you,” Jeno explains, “And I wanted to sit you down in person because this next step is very important.” 

“I don’t think I really understand where the first step happened,” Jaemin says, sounding lost. 

“First step was my giant crush on you when I first saw you and you had tears in your eyes after listening to my favorite song,” he replies with a wink and brings his hand up to kiss the back of it. 

“Well congrats,” Donghyuck basically spats out. 

“Second step was when I realized how much still in-love with Jaemin you are,” Jeno says, unafraid to call Donghyuck on the bullshit he’s been pulling for the past few months. Still, he lifts Donghyuck’s hand to press a kiss where their fingers are joined. Jaemin whips around and stares at the side of Donghyuck’s head but the idol doesn’t let him gaze drop from Jeno’s. It’s clear to him that Donghyuck is fighting a blush and when he doesn’t refute what Jeno says, his grin gets a bit wider. 

Progress, slow but sure. 

“And now the next step.” Jeno says, wanting to move their conversation to what he really wanted to bring them together to discuss, “You both need to decide what you want to do.” 

“Well, you couldn’t have been more vague if you wanted to,” Donghyuck snarks at him, still avoiding Jaemin’s gaze who is still looking at him with soft confusion. 

“Now I’ve officially confessed to you both, you both need to discuss what you want to do between the two of you.” Jeno tries again. 

“What does that mean?” Jaemin asks, his eyes finally sliding away from Donghyuck. 

Jeno searches, not sure how to explain it in another way. 

“I don’t know why you guys broke up and it’s none of my business,” he starts slowly, “But it’s clear to me that there are still feelings between you two and so I think it might be helpful to discuss it.” 

“Because talking is something we’ve been so good at,” Donghyuck remarks dryly, but Jaemin continues on as if he never spoke. 

“And what would that accomplish exactly?” He asks, a bit hotly. Jeno, despite being frustrated that he isn’t explaining himself clearly, is really enjoying seeing this new angry Jaemin. It’s confusing to Jeno how handsome it makes him. 

“Well, if we start dating, I don’t want any hurt feelings between the two of you. The easiest way to fuck up a new relationship is to not have clear expectations.” 

“You want to date me? Or us?” Jaemin asks. 

“I’m still confused,” Donghyuck admits. 

“Okay, homework,” Jeno says squeezing their hands, “Research polyamory and healthy poly relationships and communication patterns. We can meet in a few weeks to give some intentional space and time to think over everything before we decide on anything.” 

“Decide on if we want to both date you,” Jaemin says slowly. 

Jeno shrugs, “Polyamory relationships come in all shapes in sizes. I think we can make it work if we are all on the same page.” 

“This is confusing,” Donghyuck says and Jeno can’t help but to laugh. 

“You are two celebrities who have had to hide your sexual identity to basically anyone in fear of what would happen if they found out, I don’t blame you for being confused. ” Jeno says plainly, their view of basic relationships has to be super fucked up let alone adding more complicated depths to it like polyamory, “But I like you enough to try to work and figure it out. Together.” 

That seems to resonate with the other two, Donghyuck’s eyes slipping to their joined hands as Jaemin squeezes theirs. 

“Do you want to try and figure it out?” Jeno asks them softly. It’s a challenge, he knows, especially for them. 

He watches them leave the shop, a tingly sensation of being wholly unsure of what the future will hold for them. 

\-----

“You are driving me crazy,” Renjun snaps out, whacking him with a towel to get him to stop fidgeting. 

“You’d be antsy if you were in the same position as me,” Jeno complains. He does try to stop fidgeting for a moment but it only lasts a few minutes before he starts to fidget again. It’s been three weeks since their last conversation and he hasn’t so much as heard a peep from either of them since. Which is what they were supposed to do. But still. 

“I’m also not stupid enough to try to engage with not one but two celebrities in a polyamourous relationship.” Renjun points out with an accuracy that Jeno secretly hates. 

“What was I thinking?” Jeno groans unhappily, dragging a hand down his face. Renjun gives him a disgusted look. 

“You work in the service industry, you slob. Wash your hands,” he says with extreme distaste. 

Jeno pouts but obeys because after all he does work in a restaurant. 

Then his phone buzzes in his pocket. He has set it to vibrate in a specific pattern when either Donghyuck or Jaemin text him and so he can immediately recognize if it’s them. With some urgency, he is fishing his phone out of his pocket without so much as drying his hands first. His wet hands prove a bad idea when he can’t unlock his phone so he wipes his hands on his pants and tries again. 

**We are ready to talk** is sent by Donghyuck in a new group message between the three of them, followed quickly by **Are you in the shop today?**

**Until 6pm.**

**Great! We’ll stop by your house at 7pm.** Jaemin texts back, characteristically with a few cute emoji’s following it. 

When he puts his phone away, he is practically vibrating with anticipation. 

“You are so annoying,” Renjun says with a resignment that only comes with years of steadfast friendship. “I don’t even need to guess who that was.” 

“They are going to come to the flat after my shift today.” Jeno says excitedly, not letting Renjun’s resignation dampen his mood, “Maybe I should make them dinner?” 

He is already excitedly thinking about what to prepare when he is startled out of his thoughts by the whip of a wet towel to his back. 

“Wash your hands again, you slob, your phone is dirtier than your face.” Renjun complains. 

Jeno grumbles but obeys. It’s something to keep his hands busy and make the time go by a bit faster. Grumbling takes up even more time and so he keeps complaining until the time slips by. 

\-----

When Jeno gets to his flat, he has two bags full of groceries and no idea what to make. The more he thinks about it, the more confused he getst. What if he made them some fancy dinner only for them to break up with him? He didn’t want them to feel obligated to stay if they were going to turn him down. Serving wine of some sort may look like he is trying to get them drunk which he definitely doesn’t want to even make a hint of. If he had snacks, would that show he wasn’t serious about them enough to make something from hand? The more he thought about it, the less certain he got. 

His phone pings with a text from Renjun. 

**Coffee.** Jeno can basically feel his eye twitch at the one word text before he realizes what Renjun is trying to tell him. He had been posing all sorts of different food options to Renjun during their entire shift today and his best friend had playfully but sternly turned down them all. 

But coffee. Jeno could make them some homemade coffee, made with his hand. The perfect intimate touch without being too hard handed or overly eager and also tying in how they all three came together in the first place. 

Jeno’s chest warms thinking about how despite how much shit Renjun gives him, he really cares and hopes this goes well. With a happy smile, Jeno rolls his sleeves up and starts to work at his homemade espresso machine. He knows exactly what to make for them- an americano for Jaemin with extra espresso shots and a cappuccino for Donghyuck. 

He puts Jaemin’s drink in the fridge to cool and waits impatiently for the clock to tick over to 7pm. He wants to make Donghyuck’s fresh when they get here. 

Somehow when the doorbell rings at five ‘til, he jumps up in shock. As if he hadn’t been expecting anyone to arrive when he had, in fact, been basically staring at the clock and the closed door this whole time. 

He opens the door with a nervous flutter in his chest that immediately soothes when he sees the two men at his door. They are wearing their caps low and masks pulled to their noses to hide their faces but their identities are unmistakable to him nonetheless. He’d know them, disguised or not, anywhere. 

“Hi,” he says breathlessly. 

“He-yo,” Donghyuck says casually, mock saluting him as he makes his way past him into his home. 

“Hi, handsome,” Jaemin greets with a wink. He wants to think it’s a good indication of the way the conversation is going to end up but he also can’t say that it’s not much different than their usual selves. Jaemin would wink at anyone, dating or not. 

“Ah,” Jeno says, words sticking in his throat, inexplicably nervous, “Make yourselves at home and I’ll grab the drinks.” 

“You make it sound like we’ve never been here before,” Donghyuck remarks dryly as he kicks back on the couch. Jaemin, however, steps into the kitchen to offer a hand. 

“What a dick,” Jaemin comments cooly. 

“I’m sure he’s just nervous,” Jeno placats before handing him his iced americano, “Here.” 

Jaemin’s eyes light up as he holds the cup. 

“You made this here?” He asks, a bit stunned. 

“With two extra espresso shots, just like you like,” Jeno answers, glad beyond belief that Renjun’s suggestion is going well. 

“Not four?” Jaemin says with a bit of a pout. 

“Spoiled,” Jeno teases, he gets a nudge with Jaemin’s hip for the sass. Jaemin takes both his and Jeno’s drinks to the living room. 

“Where’s mine?” Donghyuck complains and Jeno shakes his head, a smile playing at his lips. Spoiled brats. 

Tapping his finger on the counter nervously, he ignores the two in the living room who seem to be conferring in hushed tones as the milk steams. Impatience burns in his chest but he works through it unwilling to compromise the quality Donghyuck’s cappuccino. When he is finally able to pour the foam into a coffee mug, he quickly takes it into the living room and places it in front of the singer. 

The two of them are sitting on the couch and so Jeno decides to take the remaining chair as they sip at their drinks. 

“Perfect, as usual,” Donghyuck says softly and the compliment loosens something tight that has been sitting in his chest since they last spoke. 

“High praise from the never-happy perfectionist himself,” Jaemin teases and Jeno tenses, looking over for Donghyuck’s reaction, and if it was a month ago, he’s sure that the answer wouldn’t have been a soft smile, a roll of the eyes, and a playful push to Jaemin’s shoulder. 

There seems to be something more concrete between them, a tangibility that feels comfortable and practiced. Jeno practically melts at the small interaction, his heart overly full. 

“So?” He asks, eager. 

The two share looks and Jeno can’t help but to hold his breath in anticipation. 

“We’ve decided to try again, between us,” Jaemin starts out with, reaching over to gently brush some hair from Donghyuck’s eyes. Jeno’s heart stutters at the proclamation, happy for them but still unsure. 

“Frankly, we aren’t sure-” Donghyuck continues and suddenly Jeno’s word narrows down to a little pinprick. 

Ah, this is how their fable was going to end. Two celebrities secretly date for years, their breakup splashed all over the internet rumor sites, and their reunion with the help of a little common man who will be nothing but a footnote in their life stories. 

Sucking in a breath is difficult, he can’t seem to let go of the one he had held in anticipation and, really, what was he thinking? How big was his ego that he assumed that these two amazingly talented and famous people would want to date him. Him, of all of the gays with a tragic backstory in this large city of closeted gays. 

“Jeno?” A large, warm hand cups his cheek and he has to blink in order to see Jaemin’s face swim into focus, “Jeno, breathe for me baby.” 

“You have to listen to the end of the sentence, you idiot,” Donghyuck hisses as a smaller hand presses into skin at the base of his neck. His hands are cool and they help Jeno focus in on what is happening. “We aren’t sure if we can do this. Not without you.” 

It takes a moment for the full sentiment to sink in. 

Oh, it’s not that they didn’t aren’t sure they want to do it with him but they aren’t sure if they can do it without him. His heart restarts in his chest and hot relief floods through him. 

“Sorry,” he gasps out, sucking in a breath that is quickly followed by the hot prickling of tears. It feels dumb to cry but he had thought his whole world had falling through the floor for that moment. But no, they wanted him. They want him. 

“Oh my god, baby please don’t cry,” Jaemin immediately protests, reaching up to wipe the evidence of his tear. 

“Sorry,” he repeats, his heart thudding in his chest, biting off a sob, “I really thought you were going to-” 

“What? Break up with you?” Donghyuck says sharply but his hands are so gently as he tips his chin back so they can make eye contact, “No, you idiot, we wouldn’t even be able to stand being in the same room if it wasn’t for you.” 

The words are harsh but paired with the softest of physical actions and it is so like Donghyuck that he finally sucks in a relieved breath, closing his eyes as another tear escapes. The singer must lean forward while his eyes are closed and his lips brush his own. He shudders at the touch. 

“You don’t have to call him an idiot,” Jaemin admonishes, brushing away the tear again as he tilts Jeno’s chin so he can brush his own kiss on his lips. 

“We all know who the real idiot is in the room,” Donghyuck says and it sounds harsh but, again, it’s said with such care that Jeno peeks open his eyes and it’s just in time to see Donghyuck and Jaemin share a kiss. 

It’s the first time he’s really seen them have any physical touch so it automatically has Jeno watching greedily, but the ease and clear practice they have kissing, Jaemin tilting Donghyuck’s head back to the perfect angle that he can see the singer’s eyelashes flutter in pleasure. He groans at how unexpectedly amazing the sight is that they part with matching sly grins. 

“Lee Jeno,” Jaemin says seriously, turning back to him “You are kind, compassionate, and open with us in a way that no one was been before.” 

“You have a steady spirit and you wisely lend your experience to help us find our footing,” Donghyuck adds. 

“Be my boyfriend?” Jaemin finishes with a wink. 

“ _Our_ boyfriend,” Donghyuck quickly corrects with a sharp elbow to Jaemin’s rib. Before they can fall into a playful bickering fight, Jeno reaches out to them. 

“I want nothing more,” Jeno says with absolute honesty, not really sure who he is reaching out to, he just knows he wants to be held by these two. These two men that have wormed their way into his life and rooted themselves into his heart. 

Instead of falling into his reach, they grab his hands and pull him onto the couch, pulling him between them, sharing kisses at every second they can. He even manages to brush one along Donghyuck’s neck that gives him a hard shudder. He files it away for next time. 

“This is nice,” Jeno says, hitching a breath between kisses, laying his head on Jaemin’s chest as his finger card through his hair. And it’s true, he feels like there is a weight that has been lifted from him. Free in a way he hasn’t felt ever. 

“Just wait until I write a song about this,” Donghyuck says dryly. 

Jeno and Jaemin groan while Donghyuck collapses into a fit of giggles. Jaemin is annoyed enough with him to lean over Jeno and kiss him until he shuts up. 

Sure enough, a few months later, the song Donghyuck writes about their make-up trends on the Melon charts. 

Jaemin promises Donghyuck that if he wins a daesung with the song, he’ll buy a new flat for them to all move in to. 

Jeno very much looks forward to loving these two until he is old and gray. 

**Author's Note:**

> 00FF Prompt #00261
> 
> Thanks to that special person **t** who I could not have done this without. I would've certainly given up after 10k if it wasn't for them. A special thank you to you, you beautiful person you. <3


End file.
